Sappada - Plodn and the long Carnival

Slow Tour

29 January 2019

Slow Tour

Sappada - Plodn and the long Carnival

While you wait for the snow in the mountains, you are invited to the youngest municipality in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, called Plodn in the minority language, spoken only in Sappada. As of December 2017 the town is part of the Province of Udine. The town is about 1200 metres above sea level, between Cadore and Carnia, among enchanting mountains; at 2,694 metres, Mount Peralba (where the river Piave rises) is the second highest mountain in the Carnic Alps. The bad weather has recently caused massive damages to the forest in the area.

Thanks to tireless work, communication channels as well as the major services have been swiftly restored. Tourism is now investing in its spontaneous Carnival, a public and traditional event bringing together ancient history and small local stories. This festival will animate the current 14 hamlets over three Sundays (dedicated to the ancient social classes) and three weekdays, with wooden masks on the face, typical clothes, skits, pranks, dances and sweets. The rule is that for the whole duration the masks can't be removed and one's identity mustn't be revealed. Last autumn, at the Ethnographic Museum of Cima Sappada, an experienced tour guide explained it to me. The Carnival usually begins with the Sunday of the Poor: sad masks, ratty clothes, simple life scenes, and tasks similar to those of the original group of people – those who moved from the lands of German counts to these mountains before the year 1000, with the consent of the Patriarch of Aquileia. The protagonists of the second Sunday are the Peasants, with scenes of working life in the Kratten hamlet: different masks and special clothes and food products. This is followed by the Day of the Lords, on the third Sunday, with elegant clothes. The ever-present symbol of the Carnival of Sappada is the character known as Rollate, usually played by tall men, with a moustached mask, a dark, sheepskin-like fur coat, striped trousers, a broom as a joke (or as a threat?), and two loud rolln, or thundering bells, hanging from his waist. Note the handkerchief that he wears around the neck: red is for a married person, white for an unmarried one. All the masked characters talk by mixing the Bavarian-Tyrolean languages, so as not to be recognised, and speak in falsetto. The tradition says that if you recognise someone you should not reveal their identity so as not to offend the spirit of the Carnival.

I have been in a local woodworking laboratory to see the carving of the masks that cover the face, which are usually made of soft pine or beech: it is an art that is perfected, as it is handed down from father to son. It is said that any Sappada resident knows how to make a simple mask. For families, if you are intrigued, on the 15th February at the Museum Julia will teach you to create one.

The last time I saw Sappada, it was decked out in its autumn colours, an incredible palette. I have had so many memorable experiences: the welcome, the walk among the old wooden houses, the little waterfall, the mill at the flower bridge, the visit to the Piave source; the departure under pouring rain and, two days later, the arrival of the pilgrims from Luggau as their annual ex-voto; and that wonderful kitchen-museum in the middle of town, inside the historic hotel where owners Marco and Carla's office is located. Sappada deserves to be called a pearl of the Dolomites: is a treasure trove of landscapes, traditions, colours, and secrets to discover.

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Anna Maria Ometto

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Sommelier, food and wine expert. Representative and president of professional associations. Adopted by Friuli Venezia Giulia, where she had a career in teaching, she tries to juggle her family roles and her commitments with regional promotion associations. She lives in the province of Pordenone.