Palù del Fersina
Palù del Fersina, known in Mòcheno as Palai en Bersntol, is the highest and innermost municipality of the Valle dei Mòcheni (Bersn...
Updated 21 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
What to do in Palù del Fersina now
The story
The story of Palù del Fersina
Palù del Fersina, at the Head of the Valle dei Mòcheni
Palù del Fersina occupies the highest and innermost position in the Valle dei Mòcheni, known in Mòcheno as Bersntol, the side valley that climbs north-west from the Valsugana until it meets the southern foothills of the Lagorai group. The municipality, at 1,360 metres above sea level, covers an area of about 16.7 square kilometres and borders Baselga di Piné, Bedollo, Fierozzo, Sant'Orsola Terme, Telve, Telve di Sopra and Torcegno, meeting both the Valle dei Mòcheni and the Piné plateau and Valsugana. The village, gathered around its historic core, is surrounded by coniferous woods, hay meadows and pastures that climb gradually up to the rocks and small alpine lakes of the Lagorai. Being the highest and most isolated village in the valley, Palù developed over the centuries an economy tied to pastoralism, forestry and, originally, mining, keeping a close bond with the mountain environment that still shapes the landscape and daily life of the community today.
The Mòcheno Community and Language
Palù del Fersina is one of three municipalities, together with Fierozzo and Frassilongo, where Mòcheno is still spoken, an old Bavarian-Tyrolean dialect brought into the valley in the Middle Ages by settlers and miners who came from German-speaking areas to work the local mines. The 2001 census recorded that 184 of the 195 residents, or 94.4 per cent, declared themselves Mòcheno speakers, an exceptionally high share that shows how alive the language has remained precisely in Palù, more than in the valley's other villages. The Mòcheno community, around 1,600 speakers across Palù, Fierozzo, Frassilongo and Sant'Orsola Terme, is recognised as a historic linguistic minority by the Statute of Autonomy of Trentino-Alto Adige and protected by provincial law no. 6 of 19 June 2008, alongside the Ladin and Cimbrian minorities. Palù is home to the Istituto Culturale Mòcheno, the Bersntoler Kulturinstitut, which promotes research, teaching and the enhancement of the valley's language and traditions, from bilingual place names to school projects, a cultural reference point for the whole minority.
The Palù Mine: Gruab va Hardimbl
A short walk above the village, at the Erdemolo locality around 1,700 metres above sea level, lies the Palù Mine, officially known as the Miniera dell'Erdemolo and called in Mòcheno Gruab va Hardimbl. Active roughly between the fifteenth century and the mid-seventeenth century, the mine was worked to extract copper, silver and lead by specialised miners known as canòpi, who came from Bohemia and Tyrol and brought with them extraction techniques and, in part, the same Germanic language that gave rise to Mòcheno. Today the old tunnels are open to the public with guided tours, run in small groups of up to twelve people, descending underground where the temperature stays at a constant eight degrees even in summer. Tours run in the summer season, roughly from June to September, with full, reduced and family tickets. Completing the mine, in the village itself, at the Paoar locality, stands the Museo S Pèrgmandlhaus, dedicated to the legendary Pergmandl, the little mine spirit of Mòcheno tradition.
Mòcheno Farmhouses, the Lagorai and Nature
Around Palù del Fersina the rural landscape still preserves traditional Mòcheno farmhouses, called in dialect der hoff, wood-and-stone buildings that for centuries were the centre of the valley's economic and family life, combining stables, hay barns and living quarters in a single structure suited to mountain economy. From Palù many trails set off climbing toward the Lagorai group, the mountain range that closes the valley to the north with peaks, small alpine lakes and wide pastures: among the most popular destinations are Lake Erdemolo, reached by a moderately demanding walk, and the Portela, the pass that links the valley with the neighbouring slopes of the Lagorai. These routes, once used by miners and herders, are today walked by hikers looking for lightly-populated environments, woods of Norway spruce and larch, and views stretching from the Valsugana to the Dolomites of Fiemme and Fassa. Nature, together with language, remains the other great heritage of Palù, a village where high altitude has shaped every aspect of local life.
History and Experiences
The name of Palù first appears in 1293, as mons Paludis, a Latin place name referring to a marshy place, which later became Palai in Mòcheno; the colonisation dates back to settlers who moved up from Frassilongo, and by 1324 farmsteads and families were already documented as permanently settled in the area, while in 1533 the Germanised form Palay appears. In the following centuries the mining economy gave way to mountain farming and pastoralism, but the isolated position and high altitude made life in Palù harsh, pushing generations toward emigration: the population, which stood at 413 residents in 1921, fell to 195 in 2001 and today numbers around 170 inhabitants. In the village stands the church of Santa Maria Maddalena, a fourteenth-century building with a wooden shingle roof and an onion-domed bell tower, celebrating its patronal feast on 22 July. Among the traditions still kept alive, the Mòcheno carnival stands out, with figures known as the bètscho, the bètscha and the Oiertroger, who go from house to house performing good-luck rites tied to fertility and a good harvest.
Not to be missed
- Palù Mine (Gruab va Hardimbl) at Erdemolo, with guided tours of the tunnels
- Museo S Pèrgmandlhaus, dedicated to the mine spirit of Mòcheno tradition
- Church of Santa Maria Maddalena, with its shingle roof and onion-domed bell tower
- A hike to Lake Erdemolo and toward the Portela pass, on the Lagorai foothills
- Istituto Culturale Mòcheno, to discover the language and traditions of the Bersntol
To see
What to see in Palù del Fersina
Routes · Trovido Route
