Val di Fiemme and Cembra: a season of culture, food and wine, and wellness
A packed programme of events to attract those looking for a ‘slow’ holiday, as well as trekking, traditions and good food
The autumn formula for seasonality adjustment? The one devised by the Val di Fiemme and Cembra Tourist Board features a packed programme of indoor and outdoor activities, as well as events and activities focusing on personal wellbeing, trekking and food and wine, chestnut festivals and ‘heroic’ agriculture, alongside opportunities to explore the local area and the valleys. This approach aims to attract tourists, revitalise the local areas and avoid the traditional seasonal polarisation between summer and winter tourism. The valleys take on coppery hues and the flocks return to the valley floor. A unique opportunity for a full-immersion detox in nature, far from the chaos of city life, but also a way to establish the two valleys as tourist destinations through a network of events that showcase the local areas and their identities, culture and traditions.
Ahead of the winter season, Marisa Giacomuzzi, deputy director of Apt Fiemme and Cembra, explains – citing figures from HBenchmark – that ‘for the Sant’Ambrogio bank holiday weekend, thanks to the favourable calendar, we are seeing a positive trend in arrivals, whilst we are receiving indications from hotels and tour operators of an excellent winter season, with limited room availability in February’.
Experiences combining local culture and the good life
A well-rounded programme of events that will centre on Giovo, in the Cembra Valley, this coming weekend with the Grape Festival. It is the grapes that give rise to the wines of Val Cembra and they will take centre stage during a weekend of walks amongst the picturesque terraced vineyards, wine tastings, art, music, folklore, plenty of fun and the unmissable parade of allegorical floats. The following week will see the Desmontegada de le Vache & the Festival del Gusto in Predazzo, celebrating the return of the herdsmen and their flocks from the summer mountain pastures. From 26 September to 5 October, the town will host the ‘Autunno in tavola’ festival, involving restaurants, farm stays and hotels from the Tradizione e Gusto club and the Dolomites Cheese Route, which will offer special menus – in some cases featuring fine cheeses and honey – thanks to the Fiemme Fassa Cembrai Beekeepers’ Association. Among the experiences on offer will be the ‘Treno del gusto’ (Taste Train), where passengers can discover the local dairy production chain: from a visit to the cowshed, just in time to watch the milking, to an aperitif with commentary at the new bistro of the Predazzo and Moena Cooperative Dairy. There will also be wine on the agenda with the third edition of Dolo-Viti-Miti, the festival celebrating vertical wine tastings and ‘heroic’ viticulture as a defining feature of the Dolomite region, whilst promoting opportunities for slow, authentic tourism off the beaten track. Masterclasses and conferences, treks and performances are set against a backdrop of over 700 kilometres of terraced vineyards with stone walls. A unique way to discover the valley’s less-travelled corners. Towards the end of October, between 23 and 25 October, the community in Albiano organises a festival dedicated to chestnuts, a local speciality, offering an opportunity to rediscover dishes and recipes from rural life, as well as to relive the customs and traditions of the past.
Wellness programme
This part of Trentino has also embraced the ‘5-circle wellbeing’ philosophy, in which autumn is one of the most ideal seasons for moments of relaxation and for rejuvenating body and mind. This weekend saw the sixth edition of the Dolomiti Wellness Community Summit, which focuses on the current state and future prospects of the wellness economy, with the Trentino valley set to become Italia’s first Wellness Community thanks to a project centred on health and prevention, sustainable economic development, tourism and the promotion of the region. Key areas of focus included the legacy of the Olympic Games hosted in the valley last February – highlighted by the “Five-Circle Wellbeing” project – as well as membership of UNWTO, the United Nations agency for more responsible and accessible tourism. The challenge now is to transform this ‘Five Rings’ legacy into a tangible boost for the community and the region. Membership of UNWTO enables Val di Fiemme to enhance its presence on international markets and to put itself forward as a host for some of the major initiatives – such as conferences, meetings, seminars and summits – that the agency organises each year around the world. In the field of health and prevention, a practical guide is to be produced, drawn up by Professor Enzo Primitivo, a surgeon specialising in longevity medicine and head of the Starpool scientific committee – a comprehensive guide whose effectiveness is enhanced by the region’s environment and altitude.
On the Health and Prevention front, the Summit offers a preview of the scientific evidence supporting a healthy lifestyle in the mid-mountain environment, compiled by Prof. Enzo Primitivo, a surgeon specialising in Longevity Medicine and head of the Starpool Scientific Committee. These daily practices — from waking up to going to sleep, including diet and stress management — derive their effectiveness from the valley’s conditions, where light, air and altitude naturally amplify the benefits. The content, presented in the form of an interview, will serve as a practical guide for residents and tourists, as well as the wider public interested in these topics. These unique valleys naturally focus on economic development, as highlighted by Matteo Mazziotta, Central Director of the National Statistical System (Sistan) and Territory at Istat, Alessandro Molinari, CEO of Itas Mutua, and Lorenzo Delladio, President of Confindustria Trento, explored the theme of transforming heritage into value for the younger generations, who are called upon not only to inherit the prosperity built by those who came before them, but also to innovate upon it.
