sunrise in the Dolomites. August, Saturday 10th

Morning is due to all —

To some — the Night —

To an imperial few —

The Auroral light.

{Emily Dickinson}

Malga Preghena di Sotto, Val di Non. h 5.30 AM

i am an earlybird. i love the morning light, the silence, the chill, the expectations, to peacefully plan my day sipping coffee on the couch. but i usually don't get up so early to see the sun rise. i did it in a cold and clear August morning, after a stormy night, and i saw the mountains waking up with me.

our alarm clock rang at five, it was still dark, too dark for pictures, we had a quick sip of coffee and run out to see the cows, who were loudly coming back from the pastures for the morning milking.
where and why did i do that?

we were hosted at Malga Preghena, in Trentino Alto Adige region. cows usually spend the summer in the mountain pastures, from the end of may to the end of september. during these months, the herders live in a mountain hut with a stable and a dairy. this place it's called malga. in the past, a malga's only purpose was to be a place where a family and their cows live, but now most of them are also a good place to eat and buy fresh products.

this summer, some malghe in Trentino offered the possibility to spend the night there, wake up with the family and watch their daily work. a chance to get closer to a lesser known reality. this project was called albe in malga: sunrise in malga.
this was not my first malga experience, but i had the chance to get a better look to the hard work of the family that runs the place.

oh, and the golden light that slowly came from the surrounding mountains to reach us? totally made ​​me forget the ungodly hour at which we woke up. (together with the crazy delicious breakfast we had after the milking!)