Summer news and events in South Tyrol

South Tyrol 2 June 2010

For an extra-decadent way to enjoy the first summer of the new decade, visitors to South Tyrol in the Italian Alps will, for the first time, be able to enjoy local cuisine prepared by renowned and Michelin-starred chefs in the madcap setting of a cable car gondola or in remote mountain refuges. Particularly punctilious travellers will be able to learn how to prepare everything from spinach-filled pancakes to barley soup dishes in farmstead-based Ladin cookery lessons, whilst the extra-hedonistic visitor will love the month-long “Vino in Festa” programme of wine-themed activities.


STAR-STUDDED FOODIE NEWS – MICHELIN MEALS IN HUTS AND CABLE CARS
On two Wednesdays in July, visitors to Ortisei/St Ulrich, the main village in Val Gardena/Gröden, will have the opportunity to enjoy a high-altitude five-course meal in a six-person cable car gondola. The Sky Dinner concept takes place on the evenings of 7 July and 14 July 2010 on the Mont Seuc cable car, which links Ortisei and Alpe di Siusi/Seiser Alm with a height of 2,000 metres, offering 90-minute meals overlooking some of the best panoramas of northern Italy. Dishes, which come courtesy of a variety of South Tyrolean eateries including the Michelin-starred Anna Stuben restaurant, will be served on the ascent accompanied by sommelier-selected wines, with dessert served in Mont Seuc’s mountaintop restaurant. The final descent is at midnight. For bookings visit www.skydinner.it or call +39 0471 774 444.

Prices from just 700 euros for six people.


Aspiring chefs looking to learn a unique style of cooking can take advantage of the new Ladin cookery courses by Ladin-speaking farmer’s wife-turned-culinary prodigy Erika Pitscheider. Taking place every Wednesday at 10.30 in Pitscheider’s Sotciastel farmstead in Badia/Abtei until 22 September, the 90-minute lessons will cover a wide range of traditional Ladin dishes which were passed on to Pitscheider through generations. Despite the simplicity of the ingredients upon which Ladin cooking is based, its dishes have inspired a number of high quality restaurants, including Michelin-starred “Stüa de Michil”. Traditional Ladin dishes on the course menu will include:

• cajinci t’ega (boiled spinach-filled pancakes);
• canderli (dumplings);
• les furtaies (a sweet, traditionally enjoyed at weddings);
• panicia (barley soup) and
• turtres (crispy, spinach-filled pancakes).

Book in sessions advance or upon arrival via the tourist office of Alta Badia for 12 euros per person at www.altabadia.org



On 12 August South Tyrol’s three Dolo“mitici” (local Alta Badia-based Michelin-starred chefs) will be preparing a gourmet mountain picnic in on the Piz Sorega plateau against backdrop of Dolomite peaks. Norbert Niederkofler of the two Michelin-starred St Hubertus restaurant, Claudio Melis of one Michelin-starred La Siriola and Arturo Spicocchi of one Michelin-starred La Stüa de Michil will be preparing local South Tyrolean dishes, with all proceeds going to the Bäuerlicher Notstandsfond charity in support of needy rural communities. The picnic starts around midday. For more information visit www.altabadia.org



JAZZ AND WINE – EVENTS TO IMPRESS
Between 25 June and 4 July 2010 the 28th South Tyrol Jazz Festival will take place with no fewer than 79 jazz concerts performed in 16 locations around South Tyrol, from Brunico/Bruneck, Bressanone/Brixen and Bolzano/Bozen through to Merano/Meran and Burgusio/Burgeis. Featuring 115 jazz performers, the concerts will be themed, from “jazz on the mountains” and “jazz and wine” through to “jazz and the cities” and “jazz boat”. The centre of the 10-day festival will remain Bolzano, the city where it was launched, and highlights will include performances by internationally renowned Israel-born artist Noa (Achinoam Nini) and the festival’s final act, by contemporary US jazz singer Dianne Reeves.


This summer South Tyrol sees the return of the 27-day “Vino in Festa” programme of wine-themed events – culminating in the “Night of the Wine Cellars” - along the 15 towns and villages of the South Tyrolean Wine Road. Pulling in wine lovers from around Europe between 16 May and 12 June, the line-up will include wine tastings, outdoor sessions to meet wine producers, music-backed Champagne-sipping in Haderburg Castle, wine seminars and wine cellar tours. The grand finale on Saturday 12 June, the so-called “Night of the Wine Cellars”, will see all the vineyards along the route open their doors between 17.00 and midnight, with an entertainment programme ranging from fireworks to wine cellar tours. A shuttle bus ensures comfortable and easy transportation from cellar to cellar throughout the evening.

The towns along South Tyrol’s “Wine Road” include the below:

• Andriano/Andrian
• Appiano/Eppan
• Bolzano/Bozen
• Caldaro/Kaltern
• Cortaccia/Kurtatsch
• Cortina/Kurtinig
• Egna/Neumarkt
• Magrè/Margreid
• Montagna/Montan
• Nalles/Nals
• Ora/Auer
• Salorno/Salurn
• Terlano/Terlan
• Termeno/Tramin
• Vadena/Pfatten

The area and its events have their own Facebook page.



GETTING THERE
British Airways (www.ba.com, 0844 493 0787) flies twice a day from London Gatwick to Verona from just £97 return including taxes, fees and charges. easyJet (www.easyjet.com; 08717 500 100) flies to Innsbruck from London Gatwick with prices from £37.99 one-way (incl. taxes). Bolzano in South Tyrol is approximately a 90-minute drive from both Verona and Innsbruck. Low-fare transfers run from Verona Valerio Catullo, Milan Orio al Serio, Venice Treviso, Venice Marco Polo and Brescia Verona airports to Bolzano in South Tyrol from 22 euros each way. Visit www.suedtirol.info/fly for general access information.

For more information about South Tyrol visit www.suedtirol.info.

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