Malga Dosso (ph: Sergio Dalle Ave)

“After the curve there was the road that led to the Val Renzola, and here there were the springs which provided fresh and welling water to the houses of the village, the remains of the aqueduct that in 1917 gave water to the Austrian soldiers up to the Ortigara. He should climb four hairpin curves, then leave the road and follow the mule track that through the Val Formica and the meadows arrived at the Dosso (…) Up there all the meadows were in bloom, now and then walking he raised his head to follow a pipit that flew singing. The herds were grazing quietly, the dogs were dozing.”

From “Stagioni” (Seasons), “Estate” (Summer)

“With the names of the dairymen and the herdsmen I learned those of woods, pastures, springs. I learned to distinguish the various races of cows and horses, which were the best dairies and their products, how and why these are worked. One day, my father, a friend of his from the city, the dairyman of Dosso di Sopra and two cowherds made me the exam. They led me upon a mountain from where we overlooked all around, up to the peaks that marked the borders of Italy, and they interrogated me. I was promoted “mountain-dweller,” and they gave me a small cash prize with which the day of the fair I bought myself “The Children of Captain Grant” at the stall of the Pontremolians.”

From “Uomini, boschi e api” (Men, Woods and Bees), “La malga” (“The malga,” typical alpine dairy hut)

The context

Malga of Porta Manazzo

In the first passage, in the third person, Mario tells about when, at eleven years old, he had received his first assignment of responsibilities by his grandfather: to bring a letter to the dairyman of Malga del Dosso, who had a mailing address at their home. An errand that involved getting up at dawn and walking twenty miles up to the mountains of the Zona dei Larici (larches area). The child faced it as a wonderful adventure in the midst of nature, giving vivid descriptions of the Val d’Assa and Val Formica and the men of the “malga” life.

Also in the second passage the theme of the alpine transhumance returns, with the writer in his childhood roaming the “malghe” during the summer along with his dad, with horse and cart, to supply them with food and gather their production of butter. To cheesemakers and herdsmen Rigoni Stern also brought the papers that wander in his house, and often the mail. Those were times of great fun for him but also of learning – the names of the places, the characteristics of plants and animals, the works of men – culminated in the “examination for mountain-dweller” to which he was subjected at Malga Porta Manazzo.

The route

Porta Manazzo under the snow (ph: Roberto Costa Ebech).

The itinerary described in the first short story can be travelled by car, because from Asiago and Camporovere it passes along the provincial road of the Val d’Assa beyond the Osteria del Ghertele, and then the road to Val Renzola up to Val Formica. But the detailed and vivid indications of the writer will also allow the ones who know those landscapes to look at them with new eyes. On the right side of the road, just before the first hairpin bend of the Renzola, a path leads to Malga Köbele (now destroyed by fire), evocative scene of another short story with Rigoni Stern child in search of edelweiss with the “Zio Giovane” (the Young Uncle), contained in the same book.

The route fot Dosso – Manazzo – Val Formica

The road of the Val Formica, passing at an altitude of 1,611 metres the detour for the Portule (see itinerary), immediately after the Rifugio Larici meets a fork: the road to the left goes down to the Baita Val Formica and from here goes up to Malga Dosso di Sopra, scene of the first short story; the road to the right goes up amidst meadows and sparse forests, also populated by deer and marmots, to Malga Manazzo, where the second one is set. From the square of the pool a short path to the north leads to the Porta Manazzo (1,795 m), which offers a wonderful view over the Val di Sella (912 m, reachable through the historic path called “Troso de Manazzo”), the Valsugana and Lagorai, and where the Alta Via degli Altipiani n. 11 passes through. Following it westward in just over an hour you can reach Punta Manderiolo (2,049 m, great view of the lakes of Levico and Caldonazzo); following it eastward the Alta Via goes beyond Bocchetta and Cima Larici (2,033 m), and then Porta Renzola (1,961 m), where it meets the Portule itinerary.