Val dei Mòcheni: The Valley Where a Lost Language Is Still Spoken

Climbing from Pergine Valsugana eastward, the valley floor narrows and the Fersina stream accompanies the journey with a constant murmur. The Val dei Mòcheni — in old German, Bersntol — is one of three protected linguistic minorities in Trentino, yet it remains almost entirely ignored by mainstream tourism. Here people speak Mòcheno, a Germanic language brought by German miners in the fourteenth century, related to Bavarian but distinct from everything else in Europe.

The museum and the living language

In Palù del Fersina (in Mòcheno, Palae), the small center of the valley, the Museum of Mountain People's Customs and Traditions is housed in a restored rural building. Admission costs a few euros and tells the story of seven centuries of productive isolation: tools from the medieval silver mines, traditional costumes, documents in a language now spoken by fewer than a thousand people. The staff will happily respond in Mòcheno if you ask. This isn't folklore: it's a real community.

Trails in the silence of the Lagorai

The valley is the natural starting point for the Lagorai, Trentino's wildest mountain range, almost entirely devoid of ski lifts or equipped refuges. The trail climbing toward Lago delle Trote or toward Passo del Redebus crosses abandoned alpine pastures and spruce forests where the only sound is the wind. In summer, temperatures hover around 18-22°C even when the Po Valley is sweltering. Bring your own water: the village fountains are safe, but refuges are scarce.

Getting there and where to eat

From Trento, take the Trentino Trasporti bus to Pergine (20 minutes, about 2 euros) and then connect to the Fersina valley. By car, it's 30 kilometers from Trento. In Sant'Orsola Terme, halfway up the valley, the local cooperative cellar sells small-fruit grappa and blueberry preserves at agricultural prices. The restaurant Ai Masi in Fierozzo serves cheese canederli and local game. The valley has no luxury hotels: family-run agritur and B&Bs, priced between 40 and 70 euros per night, are the only option — and often the best one.