Interview with Gianbattista Rigoni Stern

From an orographic perspective, the Plateau is unique in all the Alps. Extending over 46,000 hectares, it is essentially composed of three levels: one facing the plains, one is the Conca di Asiago, and the third one is at a higher level, at 1400/1600 metres. People have used the higher prairies for grazing activities, as well as deforested areas.

Livestock farming

This is a very old practice: there is written testimony, dating back to before the year 1000, of the relationship between livestock farmers – the malga operators that went up to the mountains with their (animal) herds – and the Campese Benedictine monastery in Bassano del Grappa (VI). At that time, around the year 1000, the territory was actually managed by the abbeys, and even then they refer to cheeses and butter in exchange for using those pastures.

In those years, the animals taken to graze were mostly sheep: in a report by Francesco Caldogno around the year 1600, he refers to a number of sheep exceeding 230,000 animals. To feed so many animals the grazing area should have been larger than the current one. This was the situation up to the arrival of Napoleon and the fall of the Republic of Venice. With the arrival of Napoleon, the rights to graze animals on the plain in private lands were lost, and this limited all livestock farming activities: bit by bit the sheep were replaced by cattle. At the start of the 1900s, there were about 20,000 sheep and 20,000 cattle that grazed, with more than 120-130 active malgas, an even higher number than the current 78 malgas under the supervision of the Mountain Authority Unione Montana Spettabile Reggenza dei Sette Comuni. Nevertheless, currently the Plateau has the highest density of malgas all of the Alps.

The malgas

Before WWI, the malga buildings were wooden structures, which were unfortunately completely destroyed during the war. The battle front present here for three years precluded grazing, and the number of raised livestock fell dramatically. Once grazing started again in the 1920s, there was significant reforestation to do, as well as construction of new residential structures and cowsheds, which are basically those used today. Those built from the 1920s remained the same until the 1970s-1980s when, in accordance with European Union laws, the municipalities had to make structural interventions (for example, to separate the living quarters from the dairy processing areas); the Comunità Montana also implemented works to comply with the health regulations set by the EC. More than half of the malgas working in the Plateau process milk into cheese. The most difficult and steepest malgas are dedicated to sheep, while the most productive malgas host cattle.

The orography in this area is typical of the Veneto Prealps: there are no big mountains, but the landscape invites for bike tours and hiking because you can move around without too much difficulty and especially without particular dangers. Grazing activities require maintenance of the pastures, which must be productive and correctly managed. The caring for the pastures helps to create a particularly appreciated landscape: the alternation of prairies, pastures and woods creates an environment that attracts many people, including those who have personal and age necessities and therefore need to reach the malgas and the particularly suggestive environment of the Plateau in a more comfortable way. The extended network of local roads, “inherited” from the military roads built during WWI, largely contributes to bringing visitors to the area.

Natural aspects

The natural aspects here are also significant: there is a large area to the north of Asiago that is a special protection area (SPA). This area is protected because there are particularly valuable species of flora and fauna, like the tetraonidae (wood grouse, black grouse, white ptarmigan and hazel grouse), the white hare, and a series of ungulates (deer, mule deer, chamois, and big horn sheep) as well as other animals, like the marmot and the eagle. There are very rare protected species, like the famous Salamandra atra aurorae – which inhabits the humid areas around the ponds in the highest part of the Plateau – and a series of birds, also migrating species, that stop in the pastures and woods. There are also small insects and many other life forms throughout the area. All you have to do is to look around, observe, and pay attention as you walk, keeping quiet so as not to make the animals run away.

Great War

The Plateau is also a place with many important historical memories. First of all those relative to wars, in particular WWI: from the first to the last day of that terrible, tragic war in the trenches, there was one front that ran along the whole territory from north to south. The presence of 600,000-700,000 soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy has obviously left many war-related items behind. There are trenches, walking paths, and barricades scattered throughout the places where the two armies fought. These remains are still present today, some of them have been restored, and can be partially visited.

Another interesting aspect is the economic one: currently, from the first of June to the end of September, for about 120 days, there are more than 400 people in the Plateau working on livestock grazing, coming from farms in the mountains and in the plains, bringing their animals here during the summer to graze. These numbers are enough to explain the significance that the malgas have from an economic point of view.

On one hand, tourism connected to the malgas guarantees direct revenue for the malga operators, allowing them to maintain the important tradition of grazing livestock in summer on the high pastures of the Plateau.

On the other hand, revenues are generated to the benefit of the whole territory, going beyond indirect revenues brought by tourists. In the past, the population of the Plateau lived using the woods and raising livestock. Wealth was represented by wool and meat from sheep, while now it is for the most part related to the sale of malga cheeses and to the use of the woods.

All this heritage is managed through the regulations for “civic uses” implemented by the various municipalities, and is absolutely important because profits from the right to cut wood and the assignment of malgas support municipal budgets, a part of which is necessarily destined to benefit the so-called “right to direct civic use”.

What does this mean? It means that the money generated from these activities is first and foremost destined to manage the heritage, in addition to aid for the resident population, in particular social assistance programs.

The people who reach the malgas today can also taste unique cheeses of the highest quality, produced with milk from cows grazing in pastures where, in accordance with the Unione Montana (formerly Comunità Montana), the use of feeds is limited. These cheeses are different from one malga to another, because the pastures are made up of over 80 types of grasses and then vary according to the elevation, exposure, and management of the malga. Another feature that is becoming more and more popular is to offer tourists refreshment which can be more or less rich: from a simple sandwich to a charcuterie board with cold cuts and cheeses, or even a plate of pasta with mountain butter and smoked ricotta.

All of the Seven Municipalities of the Plateau promote their malgas and invite tourists to visit them, also organizing activities linked to grazing. Just think about the transhumance, always followed by a large public that follows the herd upwards and downwards from the plains to the mountains. There are also many cheesemakers that open their doors to the public while processing milk and making cheese and butter, letting people witness these activities.

Hiking and Bike trails among the malgas

Finally let’s consider the maintenance and development of the connecting roads, in addition to the greater presence of electric bicycles (which makes it easier to reach malgas and areas that were inaccessible before by beginners and families). Now it is also possible to propose itineraries that arrive at the medium-high elevation pastures.

Experiencing malga life

I lived my life in the malgas. For more than 40 years my business has been in direct contact with malga operators, and it has been a very important experience that has taught me many things. There are many secrets linked to raising livestock and processing milk, and such an interesting environment makes you instantly curious to know more.
I think that for a family with children a trip to the malgas in the Plateau is a real lesson about nature: first picking some wildflowers in the pasture, then looking at the animals, and trying to understand how they live. It is even possible to come close to them, obviously with caution. These experiences, once back in the city, become beautiful memories. We can learn so much from nature, especially how to defend this precious wealth, our territory.