This was the house we stayed in for 3 months last summer; a "malga" in the Dolomites Mountains in North Italy.
A malga is basically where the cows go to graze in the summer and the house is where the people taking care of the cows lives. Sometimes it will also have more animals, make cheese or butter or, as in this case, have a restaurant.
Roberto, my partner, got a job as a chef in the restaurant in this malga - "Malga Venegiota" and me and our son Willow were aloud to stay there with him and the other people working there.
Since we are nomads with no fixed base and were only travelling around in our camper, this was a perfect way to spend the summer, with a free place to stay in a wonderful place, and making some money too!
I actually don't know what this "house" is, but I love the look of it! On the way on the walk to the malga
Luckily another 4 kids also stayed there with their parents, so we had a great little tribe of children :)
My friend Patricia with Willow, Roberto and Ilaria, one of the other children in the kitchen
(Almost) all the people working at the restaurant and staying in the malga
People can only reach this malga by foot, either by the shortest and flattest road, ca 30 minutes from the nearest road (on this path people working at the restaurant were also allowed to drive, but no one else) or by the longer and more beautiful trek from Passo Rolle, going right underneath the mountains.
The malga is situated 1824 meter above sea level, which meant that even in summer it could get quite chilly at night and when the sun wasn't out! But when the sun was shining it was like paradise!
In winter on the other hand, this place is completely covered by snow. No one lives here in winter and the restaurant is closed.
In this malga apart from cows they were also goats, dogs, pigs, chicken and donkeys enjoying a summer holiday in the mountains! And all (apart from the goats) were roaming around freely, even around the outside tables, where the restaurant guests were eating!
When the goats arrived
Here are some of the best photos with the animals (and children) - I took quite a lot in those 3 months!
*One morning the pigs had decided that where that stable of firewood was, was the best place to chill, and they managed to move all the wood in their favour!
A part from the farm animals there were also wild animals!
There was seen a female wolf not long before we arrived. I didn't encounter this beautiful wild creature, but we did see lots of these wonderful guys..!:
These are wild marmots, large "squirrels" living only in mountain areas, and they are amazingly cute!
They live in holes in the ground and when they get alarmed, they say this loud chipping sound, alarming all the others who then quickly return to their holes.
We managed to get quite close to them though, apparently they didn't see us as a huge danger and we were very happy to consider them friends too :D
peaking out of the hole, saying hello (or "fuck off" maybe... ;D)
We even saw their little babies, but those with babies didn't let us as close!
One marmot far away with the baby to the right
Okay, for not making this post waaaay too long with too many pictures, I will spare you the gorgeous mountain and forest photos for the next part where I will show a bit more of the restaurant and life in the malga too!
Thanks for coming along and hope to see you in the next part! <3
