Impressions of La Val
By Chalet La Flüta
The Ladin cuisine
Tasting the delights of the traditional Ladin cuisine is a real must during your holiday in the Badia Valley. This peasant cuisine, simple and hearty, brings to the table mainly farm products, always perfectly fresh, like ricotta, cheese, butter and speck, as well as mountain aromatic herbs, mushrooms and berries. Especially recommended: barley soup (in the past times, barley was widely cultivated on the fields of the Badia Valley), canederli with gulash (a wedding dish, since meat used to be incredibly rare on the table), cajincì (ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach) and turtres (fried parcels with different fillings, cooked for feasts and big celebrations).
Nature Park
Fanes-Sennes-Braies/Prags
One of the biggest nature parks in South Tyrol, Fanes-Sennes-Braies/Prags extends from Alta Badia to Dobbiaco/Toblach and represents a superb dolomite scenery with vast plateaus, jagged ridges and glittering mountain lakes. La Val is located at the foot of the Fanes plateau, which landscapes, charming and mysterious, used to inspire numerous Ladin legends and nowadays inspire magnificent hikes through the wild nature with lots of protected species. The plateau of Fanes, with its imposing peaks Le Ciaval, Cima Nove and Cima Dieci, can be reached from La Val along trail no. 13 that leads over the St. Antonio pass (about 3 hours uphill).
Les Viles in Alta Badia
Traditional peasant settlements “les viles” are the true witnesses of the Ladin history in La Val. To survive in the tough mountain conditions and to share some work, peasants used to unite into small communities (often families). Each “vila” was composed of several houses (“ciasa”) and adjacent cattle sheds with haylofts (“tablé” and “majun”). On the central square there were shared facilities such as a fountain, a drinking trough and a bread oven.
Handicraft in La Val
The handicraft traditions in the Badia Valley date back to the times when peasants had to provide on their own everything required for the survival of their families. This has led to the development of various crafts, including woodworking and artistic weaving. Visit the best craftsmen’s workshops of the Badia Valley in the industrial area of Pederoa, a district of La Val.
