‘Twas the Season

To celebrate our second Italian Christmas we headed once again to the small town of Ortisei in the Dolomites in the country’s north. Getting to Ortisei requires a bit of commitment – it’s an hour-long winding drive from almost anywhere – but it’s certainly worth the effort.

The town sits at the entrance to the Val Gardena, a place where snowy alpine plateaus and dark green pine forests are little more than support acts for the main attraction – the superbly dramatic Dolomite mountains themselves.

The Dolomites seem somehow less orderly - maybe slightly wilder - than the Alps ... qualities we appreciate 🙂

There was a lot less snow in Ortisei this year, but that in no way diminished our joy at being back in Val Gardena

This small piazza was once again our regular haunt for vin brule and the occasional panino con porchetta

Of all the Christmas villages we've seen, Ortisei is the prettiest

But the Christmas action wasn't only outdoors - here's the 2018 version of our own Christmas Corner

Of course all the markets were in full swing; the valley is quite a way from the ocean though, so we were a bit surprised to see this oyster and champagne bar in Selva

Last Christmas many of the hiking tracks were closed by heavy snow; this year we were able to get around a bit more

On Christmas morning we headed off to St Jacob's, a tiny church dedicated to the patron saint of travellers and pilgrims

Accessible only by foot, the church was built (before 1283) on an ancient path that once connected this valley to Venice

Murals on the exterior walls of the church date from 1450

The small cemetery inside the church wall is reserved only for local families

Cemeteries here are generally well cared for; even in very remote places you'll often find one or two people tending the graves of their loved ones

When we left St Jacob's we decided to head home via a different track

Unfortunately the path we chose headed round to the shady (read snowy and icy) side of the mountain

Somehow we had managed to miss this very clear notice (in 3 languages) and set off on the 'difficult' track; not our best decision

Eventually the increasingly slippery path reached the edge of a very steep drop, so we decided it would be prudent to turn around (only to then find we'd missed the 'easy/difficult' track advice the first time)

On our way to Ortisei we overnighted once again in Bolzano

The Christmas markets here are among the oldest in the country

They're traditional markets selling mostly products made or painted by hand

This one's definitely handmade; an edible lucky charm

And then we found the town of Bressanone, with its narrow streets and lovely arcades

Bressanone is more than 1,000 years old

The Cathedral is the town's best known landmark

And the Piazza del Duomo is the heart of Bressanone

The sights and sounds, tastes and traditions of Christmas in Italy ... we love it all