In the Magredi, a wild wonder

Slow Tour

5 June 2018

Slow Tour

In the Magredi, a wild wonder

Do you want to come? Decision taken, almost a fateful one. In 45 minutes, I was catapulted into the scrubby lands of the Magredi, a Biotype Park of poor meadows north-east of Pordenone, where the Cellina river meets Meduna and Colvera, near Vivaro. An area of about 300 km² left to nature. And nature has captured me. In this Site of Community Importance, led by Stefano and the expert tutor, we equip ourselves, motivated for the walk that will be a journey of incredible discoveries. We have all been seduced by the enormous space where the eye focuses on details and then stretches beyond, grasping the sense of vastness, of boundless freedom. Colours and life here are content with few resources. Lying down in the stones, have you ever sensed so much silence? Three hours, three habitats. Having left civilisation, the white gravel, with its more or less polished stones where we lay down, gives way to a realm of mosses and lichens, few shrubs and some coloured flowers. The primitive magredo is different, where the meadows become arid. This is followed by the lusher meadows of the ‘evolved’ magredo, which suggest the Hungarian Puszta. How many things Stefano knows at seventeen years of age! He introduces us to Orphan maidenhair, a graminaceous plant with a bright plumes, which seems to dance over the meadows like the hair of fairies or witches. The eye ranges far over the endless expanses, and back to what is near. The yellow of the Gjalùt, or Lotus corniculatus, a herbaceous plant, stands out. Naming a plant is for me like giving it a story, recognising it. The wild thyme with its tiny violet flowers releases its scent when touched. Water flows beneath the stones. We walk over an alluvial mattress while the sun warms us up. After a while, the foot becomes more agile, jumping to avoid the lichens and many typical herbaceous plants and flowers. We are now wandering figures, scattered in search of an inspired picture, attracted by the scent of melon coming from wild dog roses in a bush, or a backlit effect. Many of us are silent. Here everything seems still and immobile. But we feel that it’s not like that: it’s a mysterious place. Someone lingers, so we admire the views towards the Friulian Dolomites; on the left the Cavallo massif, and to the right the Raut and the Jof. Pièrditi in tal patùs (Lose yourself among the weeds) is the name given to the excursion in these meadows where the spring bloom is generous. And the fauna? Traces of roe deer, butterflies, all of them tiny and lilac, yellow, white, orange in colour; probable nightingales and larks. But we have to content ourselves with the drawing of the colourful migratory bee-eater and the brown stone-curlew. From hand to hand we pass a jewel: a hard, brown pearl, used by the bee-eater to decorate its nest. Like in a game, as soon as we hear it is a pellet excreted by a hare, instinctively we drop the precious pearl to the ground, amid general hilarity. The gaze returns to the expanses of simple and variegated orchids. Do you know the one with “the little men”? And would you be able to recognise the lady’s bedstraw, used for the coagulation of milk? Maybe at the Latteria turnaria di Tesis we can find out more. Along the edges I note the Sclupit or catchflies. How good the orzotto with sclupit was that I ate recently! Maybe I’m hungry. Now I see Patrizia and her friend photographing a rarity: the Tartarian breadplant, a herbaceous shrub, now white with flowers. It grows only in the Magredi and in the Hungarian Puszta. A legend states that it was brought by the Huns of Attila. Crossing a stream brings a moment of coolness, amid the green. According to the map we are close to halfway along the route: a vague mirage becomes reality. An aperitif with omelette with wild asparagus or grisolòn, urtissòns (hops), salami and cheese awaits us. An extra touch after our wandering. The phone forecasts bad weather, but we are graced by a glimpse of light that illuminates a foothill from the sky: a peaceful sunset. For info: pro.loco.vivaro@gmail.com or infocomuseolisaganis.it. Educational activities and workshops for schools. Easy routes that can be followed even independently, for families, for every need. If you have two days, Vivaro offers not only vineyards and wines but also an albergo diffuso (literally a ‘scattered hotel’), and well-known inns supplying hospitality and good tradition at the table in rural style.

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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.