Valfloriana
Valfloriana is a small municipality in Trentino that occupies a secluded slope between the Val di Cembra, carved by the Avisio riv...
Ενημερώθηκε στις 21 Ιουλίου 2026
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Η ιστορία
Η ιστορία του/της Valfloriana
Valfloriana between Val di Cembra and Val di Fiemme
Valfloriana occupies a unique position in the geography of Trentino: it is located on the left bank of the Avisio, the stream that carves the Val di Cembra, but culturally and administratively it looks towards the Val di Fiemme, with which it shares customs, dialect, and festival calendar. The municipality develops on a wide wooded slope that rises from the valley floor to over 1,200 meters, in a territory of almost 40 square kilometers marked by steep differences in elevation and an exposure that alternates sunny slopes with shady valleys. This hinge location between two valleys, both marked by a strong local identity, has made Valfloriana a place apart, with a physiognomy that does not entirely coincide with either the wine-producing Val di Cembra or the Val di Fiemme linked to wood and skiing, but which condenses some of their traits on a smaller scale, in a landscape of woods, meadows, and small rural settlements.
The Carnevale dei Matoci: wooden masks
The strongest identity trait of Valfloriana is the Carnevale dei Matoci, one of the best-preserved archaic carnivals in the Alpine region, celebrated every year on Fat Saturday with a procession that starts in the morning and crosses the hamlets until it converges in the square of Casatta. At the center of the festival is the matòcio, the masked figure who wears the facèra, a hand-carved cirmolo wood mask, with a face that is both beautiful and unsettling, capable of altering the wearer's voice and bearing. Around the matòcio moves a small world of fixed characters: harlequins, musicians, the bèla, the bride and groom, and the paiaci, in a performance that evokes the ancient wedding processions celebrated in winter, in the season free from agricultural work, when mountain communities organized mock masked weddings as a collective festival. The parade, which also attracts masked groups from other Trentino valleys and the Aosta Valley, is accompanied by songs, dances, and specialties such as supa der orz and Casat cheese, in an event that is both a popular spectacle and an ethnographic heritage passed down from generation to generation.
A scattered municipality: thirteen hamlets and the life of the masi
Valfloriana is, in the Trentino administrative definition, a scattered municipality: there is no single capital, but an archipelago of thirteen hamlets at different altitudes, from Ischiazza at 700 meters to Sicina, the highest at 1,200 meters, passing through Barcatta, Casanova, Dorà, Montalbiano, Palù, Pozza, Pradel, Valle, and Villaggio, in addition to the municipal seat of Casatta. This dispersion reflects mountain peasant life, with small clusters of houses and masi (traditional mountain farmsteads) near hay meadows and pastures, often on hillsides, connected by mule tracks that still trace local paths today. Three churches, dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua in Dorà, to Saint Floriano in Casatta, and to Saint Philip Neri in Montalbiano, mark the religious life of the hamlets. A dramatic chapter is linked to the flood of November 1966, which hit Ischiazza and Maso, forcing their evacuation and the creation of the Villaggio hamlet, while the two original nuclei remain uninhabited to this day.
The woods, the Lagorai and nature
The territory of Valfloriana is largely covered by forests of spruce, larch, and Swiss pine, the same wood used to carve the Carnival masks, which rise to meet the high pastures and rocks of the Lagorai, the porphyry massif that closes the Val di Fiemme and Valsugana to the south. From the highest hamlets of the municipality, such as Sicina, paths lead to the passes and mountain huts on the northern slope of the Lagorai, a less-traveled access point compared to other routes in the area, in an environment of silence and little-anthropized nature. These paths connect to the wider hiking network of the Translagorai, the long traverse that follows the ridge of the massif from Panarotta to Passo Rolle, between alpine lakes and flowery pastures, and represent for Valfloriana a silent gateway to one of the wildest and least frequented corners of the Trentino Alps.
History and experiences to live
The name Valfloriana derives from the patron saint San Floriano, to whom the church of Casatta is dedicated, although a popular tradition links it to the flowery meadows surrounded by fir forests that once characterized the landscape. The recent history of the village preserves a particular episode: in the institutional referendum of 1946 between monarchy and republic, Valfloriana was the Trentino municipality with the highest percentage of votes in favor of the republic, almost 97 percent, a figure that local historians interpret as a reflection of an autonomous community not inclined to traditional hierarchies. Today, the village thrives on cattle farming, cheese and cured meat production, and forestry, along with slow tourism consisting of agriturismos, walks through the hamlets, and off-season stays. Visiting Valfloriana means alternating the discovery of small rural hamlets, hamlet churches, and paths towards the Lagorai with participation, if the calendar allows, in the Carnevale dei Matoci, the event that best tells the soul of this secluded corner of Trentino.
Not to be missed
- The Carnival of the Matoci in Casatta, with the parade of the facèra wooden masks
- The thirteen scattered hamlets of the municipality, from Ischiazza to Sicina
- The church of San Floriano in Casatta, the municipal seat and religious heart of the village
- A hike toward the northern pastures and passes of the Lagorai
- A stop at the farmsteads and alpine huts to taste Casat cheese and local cured meats
Αξιοθέατα
What to see in Valfloriana
Routes · Trovido Route
