Italian Traditions: Grand celebration of Desmontegar in Fiera Di Primiero, Trento
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To follow the "Cheese Road of the Dolomites" means to make a journey through time and space. It can lead you, for example, to the "Desmontegada" in Primiero, Trento, a wonderful opportunity to sample the best dairy production of the area but also a real blast from the past. Or perhaps a leap into the eternal, because, in some areas of Trentino, certain traditions seem really everlasting.
The "Desmontegada" in Primiero, which goes on every year during the last days of September, is a ritual - and an appointment - as old as the world: every year the cows, in retreat in the summer pastures, with the end of the summer get down to the valley.
Years ago this meant a significant change of life and habits for farming families, who left the mountains with the cattle, settling back into their homes in the valley.
This, then as now, was celebrated with the "Great Feast of Desmontegar".
The evocative event has not undergone changes over the years: all the cattle are adorned with necklaces of flowers and tree branches and the most beautiful cows get precious bells and are beautifully decorated.