Welcome to Valle dei Mòcheni, or Bersntol in Mòcheno, where the River Fersina meanders through woods and mountains. Among the small hamlets and scattered farmsteads on these steep slopes, time slows down, and every stone, every house tells a story handed down through the centuries without ever losing its voice.
Farmer-settlers: the pioneers of the maso
This journey began in the 13th century, when families from Bavaria began to settle in these mountains. Neither flight nor war, this was gradual, planned colonisation, caused, like all emigrations, by hunger: the local gentry invited settlers to populate uninhabited lands, with the promise of land for crops, pasture, woodland. The bond with the mountains was total: each family received a maso or farmstead comprising a farmhouse, stable, barn, land and woodland and, one generation after the next, they looked after it.
These settlers, called "roncadori" (from the verb roncare, to till), transformed forests and pastures into arable land, bringing with them mountain-farming tools, knowledge and techniques.
The main living unit was the maso, an Alpine complex consisting of house, stable, barn and surrounding land, often fenced in. Each farm was run independently and handed down from one generation to the next. This model, widespread in German-speaking Alpine communities, created scattered settlements instead of the traditional Italian villages, imprinting the valley with its distinctive scenery and culture.
Mountain agriculture—cereals, potatoes, animal husbandry—was accompanied by forest management, hay harvesting and craft activities. Geographical isolation favoured the preservation of language and traditions, protecting the community from rapid external change.
