Tradition, culture and history of the Ladin people in Val Gardena

Regenerate your mind

A holiday with us means rediscovering the territory, its culture, the language, its deepest state of meaning. A way of rediscovering yourself, a holiday to regenerate physically but most of all spiritually. Our landscape acts as the doctor, embedded in its own rich history and the quintessence of the connection between woman and nature, between man and nature.

The Sellaronda speaks Ladin

The Val Gardena, Val Badia with Marebbe, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Livinallongo and the Val di Fassa belong to the same stem of dolomite-sellan Ladins. Therefore, at least five idiomatic variants of the Ladin language exist; not to be confused with the various dialects of Italian, even if they partake in the neolatin family of languages.

Ladin is a lived multicultural experience

From a tender age on, we live in a trilingual reality: at 4-5 years, our children already understand three languages – Ladin, Italian and German – and in addition, the English language is taught from the first years of elementary school on. The majority of us don’t even stop there: being eternally eager to learn new languages, some study Spanish or French, Russian or Portuguese, to name a few.

Building bridges across Europe

The Ladin language marks a bridge between the two European worlds of Latin and Germanic languages. Thanks to Ladin as a mother tongue our people are able to initiate a profound way of communication with neighbouring cultures; not only learned but lived culture.

Personality and identity

The two-thousand year old Ladin language is synonymous with unique personality, closely tied to the territory, the Dolomites, UNESCO World Heritage but also the natural arena of mythical legends that are an expression of the way of life and understanding one’s surroundings, one’s history and the most profound structure of one’s existence.

The sound “ch”(as in: carving) becomes “ci”(as in: change) and “gh” becomes “gi”:
Feminine: Cavalla: ciavala.
You try: gatta:…………………………. Gallina:………………..
Masculine: cavallo: ciaval (elision of the last vowel)
You try: cane:………………………….. gatto:…………………… gallo:………………………….

Solution

The Romans brought the Latin language into the Alpine territory. From the encounter between the Rhaetian populations two thousand years ago, the Rhateoroman or Ladin language is born. Originally, the Ladin territory reached from Switzerland to Trieste and from the Danube to the lake Garda.

Following migration of the peoples the Ladin territory becomes limited. Four linguistic islands remain: The Grisons in Switzerland, the Non Valley, the Ladin valleys of the Dolomites and the Friuli. The Ladin territory of the Dolomites has kept its special character thanks to isolation and its distinct socio-economic situation.

The history of the Ladin populations of the Dolomites is a story of divisions. In 1923, Cortina d'Ampezzo and Fodom were assigned to the province of Belluno, the Valle di Fassa was assigned to the province of Triento and the Val Gardena and Val Badia were assigned to the province of Bolzano-Alto Adige. Multiple requests to reconnect the territories have remained without outcome.

The subdivision into 3 provinces and the division into 2 regions remain unchanged. The Ladins in Belluno are subdivided further into two districts: the Puster valley and Bolzano. The education system is not uniform in the Ladin valleys. Lessons in the mother tongue Ladin are only obbligatory in the Val Gardena, Val Badia and Val die Fassa. In the Ladin valleys of the Alto Adige, the education system is based on a parity of German and Italian, with 2 hours a week of Ladin and obviously English, beginning in elementary school.

To conclude, the Ladin grows up in a multicultural reality that is characterized by linguistic and cultural participation, with the Ladin language that is the distincitve element of a singular and collective identity and personality. The school manages to partly respond to the requirements of the Ladin people. However, a strong presence of numerous cultural, social and sport related institutions remains in the area.

The typical dishes of the Ladin valleys mark a cultural and culinary bridge. Because we don't include restaurant service in our Residence, we would like to give you some „hints“. In the restaurants of our valleys you will find the best of the Austrian-Hungarian culinary tradition paired with the succulent dishes of Italian cuisine.

Additionally, we recommend the typical specialities of the Val Gardena:

I crafuncins: Tyrolean ravioli filled with spinach, tossed in melted butter, strictly double cooked so that it becomes lightly browned (never burned!), with parmesan or the typical „zigher“ cheese, if available.

Let's talk about dumplings!

You must NEVER! cut the dumplings with a knife or even with a fork. They have to be gently broken apart with joined effort of spoon and fork! Those who do not know this golden rule, even among the villagers, do not deserve to enter into the world of the „forchetta d'oro“ (the golden fork) and the strict quality assurance of the label DOCG (controlled and guaranteed designation of origin)…

• Dumplings with Speck in broth, with goulash and salad.
• Dumplings with cheese, with spinach in melted butter and Grana cheese.
• Dumplings with liver in broth, eaten for Christmas and Easter in our house; they are a delicacy, difficult but not impossible to find in one or the other restaurant of the area.
• My favorites, even if they seem impossible to find in restaurants: dumplings cooked in a thick bean soup, similar to a type of „pasta e fagioli“. This dish is typically Italian, but was reinvented by our mothers and grandmothers. Dumplings without Speck, „da digiuno“(for fasting) or „da venerdi“, how we say, cooked in soup with flower enriched with beans that have been soaked the day before with bay leaf and Speck. The dish itself consists of the soup, one or two dumplings and beans: personally, I like them with a dash of red or white wine vinegar.
• „Panicia cun bales“: dumplings with Speck, cooked in a barley soup enriched with a piece of smoked pork meat. Tradition in Val Gardena requires that it be cooked on the last Thursday before Lent, when young children, but also those who have remained children go and „steal the pot“ („rubé l'ola“), given that they succeed in distracting the cook to leave the kitchen with various excuses.

 

In this case such a „legal theft“ might have a positive outcome: the „panicia“ and dumplings will be tasted by someone who with brilliance and stubbornness has managed to steal the pot right from under the poor cook's nose.

As dessert we recommend a Strudel, apple slices baked in the typical dough, or a „faneda“, also a typical dessert with blueberry marmalade.