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ShareAlpine culture and heritage in Trentino
The Autonomous Province of Trento safeguards its language minority groups
Ladin is the language spoken in Val di Fassa. The Ladin District of Fassa, heir to the Magnificent Community of Fassa, brings together about 8,000 Ladin people. The Ladin Museum and the Ladin Cultural Institute of Fassa are meeting venues to acquire knowledge about the Ladin culture.
Carnival is one of the most traditional moments of the Ladin culture, when the "masques" roam the streets, representing in a burlesque way the characters of the age-old farmers' everyday life. The masques are made of wood by local craftsmen.
In Luserna, 90% of the population speaks a language called Cimbro, an ancient Bavarian idiom, the origins of which lie in the migrations of Bavarian colonizers who left their homelands to reach this area of Trentino driven by the famine of the year 1000. The Cimbrian language has been the subject of international studies and relies on a Documentation Centre, of a Cultural Institute and of various associations that aim to preserve this language and make it known to others.
Between 1300 and 1400, the Bavarian colonizers also reached Valle dei Mocheni. They were miners of German origin, and they settled there attracted by the discovery of silver, copper and iron mines in the valley. "Mócheno" is a language that was transmitted orally up until 2002, when it was coded by the Mócheno Cultural Institute and by Munich-based linguist Antony Rowley.
