23 September 2010

The return of the cattle from the mountain pastures in Ruffre'

If you are around here in September (usually the second weekend of September) then I strongly recommend a trip to Ruffre' to see the return of the cattle from the mountain pastures to the valley for the winter. (in dialect: la desmalgiada or la desmontegada, depending where you are). 









It usually starts at 9 o'clock in the morning up in the mountains from where you all go down together back to Ruffre'. I've never done the morning bit but last year I went there in the afternoon. We got there around 3 o'clock, just when the cattle was entering Ruffre'. It was very cheerful and noisy, with those characteristic cow bells making all the noise. The boys and girls accompanying the cattle were all dressed in traditional clothes and all the town was decorated with flowers. We joined the "parade" and walked about 10 mins into the town centre. There we watched the demonstration of how people used to work in the fields in the past, we admired the local produce and the work of local craftsmen and women.We also tried some traditional food (strauben and the like) at the nearby stalls. Because it's so near to the border with South Tyro,l the locals wore Lederhosen and the traditional oompah band was playing, all adding extra something to the festive atmosphere.










How to get there:

There are several opions to get there by car depending if you want to take the highway or not.
From Trento we took SS12 towards Bolzano, took the Bolzano exit and then took the  SS43 towards Tassullo, Sanzeno and then finally Ruffre'.


Duration: you could make it a whole day trip or half a day.

Level: easy for the parade in town, not sure about the whole day option


Refreshments and toilet facilities: bars in Ruffre'


Useful websites:

Unfortunately the links I've found to the website of Ruffre where this event is mentioned, are only in Italian. Nevertheless I'll post it here for the sake of checking the date in the future.
http://www.comune.ruffre.tn.it/turismo/eventi.asp


http://www.tr3ntino.it/en/trentinos-holiday-areas/valle-di-non/ruffre.html 

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