Hiking ...with strudel and speck

The fall brings on the Dolomites the joy of the flavors and lots of hiking with many gourmet stops. It’s ‘Torggelen’ time: walks at altitude and rich food tasting, guilt-free because with just one km walk at 2000 meters of altitude you burn the calories of a dozen kilometers walked in the plains.

So let’s go on the flavors’ paths, beer steins, baskets of chestnuts, sliced speck and good wine are waiting for you. Törggelen is the South Tyrol custom to walk, from a farm to another, from a typical mountain refuge to an inn to eat and drink. A tradition that takes place every year from the last weekend of September until early December.

For the most curious ones, we remember that the word comes from the Latin "torquere" which means pressing, squeezing grapes in the cellar. According to sources, the Isarco valley is the birthplace of this ancient tradition: the farmers of the valley, that used to produce wine and to graze the cattle near the mountain farms, used to celebrate the harvest period and the new wine offering to their "colleagues" the autumn products. In short, a sort of thanksgiving and sharing which included in addition to the new wine, pastries, speck, salami, smoked meat, sauerkraut, sausages and of course, canederli, soups, rye bread, cheese.

Today they don’t squeeze the grapes with their feet anymore but walking or cycling we can still go between farms and inns to spice our holiday of flavors and fun.

For hikers, South Tyrol offers 17,000 kilometers of paths, 102 official guides and many hotels that have proposals on this theme with hiking in company, bike tours and even cooking classes.

Chiusa is the great capital of Törggelen and the only town in South Tyrol that celebrates the tradition also in the streets as well as in farms and restaurants. It begins on September 19th until the first week of October.

Sitting under a pergola or walking through alleys and squares, Dolomite’s fall will certainly fill with taste you sportive holiday.

INFO:

www.klausen.it
www.suedtirol.it