Heiner's farmhouse

For one of my last weekends I was lucky to experience Alto Adige/Sudtirol, through the eyes of a local. My friend Ali is completing her Masters Program in Parma and most of her group was attending a special weekend in the Trentino region of Italy. One of the guys (Heiner) in her program is from Bolzano a town nearby and his family has a farmhouse up in the mountains 3,000 ft. This area of Italy is very unique because it wasn't a part of Italy until 1919. Before then it was part of Austria/Hungary. The influence is now extremely noticeable, you actually feel like you are in Austria or Germany instead of Italy. The history of the region is so unique and the city is still bilingual. You actually have a choice in whether you want your kids to be instructed in Italian or German. The name of the region in Italian is Trentino-Alto Adige and in German it's Sudtirol or South Tyrol. This region also covers a large portion of the Dolomites, a spectacular mountain range in Italy.
To reach the Heiner's farmhouse we caravaned up from Parma. Our first stop was a winery called Alois Legeder. Heiner owns a catering company with a good friend and they host many events at this winery, so he has some special connections. It was great being with a group of people that know their food and wine well, since that's what their master's program really is: studying food, wine, cured meats, culture, not a very rough life. They basically have to travel around and learn about the local food of particular regions. This winery was very unique and one of the most interesting ones I've had a chance to visit. They produce about 1.6 million bottles a years and surprisingly make wine using a bio-dynamic process in addition to the more conventional wine making. Basically with bio-dynamic wines they use a practical method of farming, and they are more ecologically self-sufficient. It also includes some ethical-spiritual considerations. Some of the wine aging in barrique barrels in this winery even gets to listen to music. There is a theory about bringing the natural elements in from the outside and so an artist created a special song by stretching out one minute of a Bach symphony into one hour of music. The music is connected to a timer, so when the afternoon wind blows it triggers the music to began. Our group was most concerned with whether or not they have done a taste test to see if the wine aged any better when it listened to the music! Definitely a first! After a great lunch and wine tasting, we were back in the car heading for the farm near Bolzano.
We arrived at Heiner's place, that his family or generations of his family has lived in since around 1913. Some of his family was forced to move to Austria during WWI and then some of them (his obviously) stayed in the farmhouse. He actually grew up in Bolzano, about a 30 minute drive down the mountain, but his family came to the farmhouse some weekends and for the summers. I was lucky to be included in the special weekend. We reached the farmhouse about 6pm and started setting up the 10 person tent since some of us would be calling it a bedroom. Ali and I prepared to sleep where ever there was room, but once we arrived and realized it would be a quite a chilly night outside, we opted for the open beds in the house. At the end of the weekend, when the people in the tent were showing their spider bites we were especially happy with our inside choice. The whole weekend was filled with adventure, relaxation and tons of good food. A few people within the group are chefs and treated us well. Plus, Heiner's mom, the cutest lady who speaks no English, makes homemade jam and bakes everything you can imagine. Before dinner the first night we had to at least check out our surroundings. We walked up to the pasture filled with roaming cows and then hiked into the woods a bit looking for a pond Heiner kept referring to. We didn't see it at first, so half the group turned around thinking it was going to get dark. The rest of the crew ended up finding the lake a few minutes later. That night we had a great herb pasta made with fresh herbs from the garden, mint, chives, and thyme. Sunday we woke up leisurely, had fresh coffee and breakfast (everything is locally grown and fresh, which made every meal amazing...even down to the yogurt) and then headed out for our hike. After walking about an hour we reached a hut, similar to what you would find in the mountains of a ski resort. Some of the group decided to forgo the rest of the hike and relax with some drinks. The rest of us went to find a particular pool of water coming from the mountains, that Heiner kept talking about earlier in the day. He claimed it was about a 45 min hike from where we were. We found what he referred to as a stream, and then he said that the pool was at the top of the stream, so we just needed to get to the end of the stream. Well there was no longer any trail, so at this point we were "bouldering." One of the other guys called Heiner over the explained that some of the girls weren't really enjoying the bouldering, since there was a also a huge thunder cloud looming over us. From there they decided it was best to move off to the right to try to find the trail. In order to do this we were pretty much walking up a incline of moss and thick branches. At some points Heiner had to literally pull us up the mountain. After circumventing the area we finally saw parts of the trail and reached in safely. This was after Heiner, showed us a trick to get rid of a cold, which was to place a tissue on top of a huge ant hill. Supposedly, they secret their smell on the tissue, then you carefully brush them off and smell the ant secretion and it makes you well. Hmm, no one really wanted to partake in the mountain remedy. Sunday night we roasted or bbqed a goat, definitely a first for many. Sarah, who is Ali's roomate from Denmark, was in charge of the marinating and then made this amazing cabbage salad (made with yogurt, so it wasn't at all like coleslaw) and baked potatoes with a garlic, chive butter. Perfection! It was the last night I was there and we all sat around a campfire sharing stories and wine. Monday we spent most of the day relaxing by the lake and swimming among the carp. I got a ride from Heiner's friend Froggy (nickname, never caught the real one) that was heading back to Innsbruck. As a thank you, I bought him ice cream, or what he kept referring to as ICE and the best in the world. Actually he said the best was at this other store that used to be in town, but the old man passed away and never passed his recipe on and so no one can make the best ice cream anymore. Bolzano is also famous for the "frozen man" who lives in the Mummy museum. I guess he was found hiking, but he was dead, so I guess he wasn't actually hiked. He was frozen in a certain position and now he is in this museum. To get back to Lugano, I was taking the train from Bolzano to Verona and then to Milano and back to Lugano. Sounds longer than it was really was and it was pretty pleasant, except for the groups of children that got on at the Gardaland stop near Verona. Gardaland is supposedly one the best amusement parks in Italy.
It was a really special weekend and a great to spend one of my last. It was great meeting all of the people in Ali's program. Looking forward to our next adventure together. I talked Ali into coming to Lugano next weekend, after tempting her with great sunny weather and days spent at the LIDO. Can't believe it will be my last weekend in Lugano.