It's 7pm when we arrive Arta Terme, in Carnia, in the Friulian Alps and we are immediately welcomed by the hosts of the B&B where we are staying with an aperitif based on local products: there are what they call “herbs” here, that is, wild herbs and vegetables in oil, such as the delicious wild asparagus or mountain radicchio, and the typical cheeses of the area, Frant, Alto But and smoked ricotta. They are delicious and I already know that I will return home with both in my suitcase (the cheeses can be bought at Latteria Alto But in Sutrio and the herbs at Despar in Arta Terme).
Arta Terme is a town of 2,000 inhabitants at 422 meters above sea level and when I wake up I understand why they talk about «Silent Alps»: I am surrounded by large meadows and mountains covered with fir trees, larches and some chestnut and beech trees, but above all I am in silence. Carnia, an area of Friuli Venezia Giulia that borders Veneto and Austria and is closed between the Tagliamento river and the Alps, is a welcoming but reserved place, suitable for those looking for a quiet and uncrowded mountain.
In the village everyone knows each other and everyone helps each other: so I sleep in the B&B Perfume of Bosc I am hosted for breakfast by Mr. Stefano, owner of the B&B Stalut das Puestines, and the cakes were prepared by Iris who runs the B&B Claf di Violin a little further away. It is immediately clear that the community here is strong and has clear ideas about what it wants: slow tourism.
Arta Terme, genuine food and secret recipes
You come to Arta Terme to break away from your routines and enter another dimension, much more natural than what most of us are used to, and to take care of our body and soul.
After breakfast we attend one cooking class at the home of the food blogger from That's love, Chiara Selenati (her cooking classes can be booked on Airbnb, in the experiences category), to taste local, light cuisine. We prepare rye crostini with fresh ricotta and trout from Sutrio (a municipality neighboring Arta Terme) and a Friulian pumpkin cream.
The most typical dish of Carnia, however, are the cjarsòns **(the probability of pronouncing it the wrong way is very high, but no one will blame you for this). They are a filled pasta made with water and flour: every town, if not every family, has its own recipe for the filling, some prepare them savory, others sweet. I taste them savory in the restaurant Antica Osteria Stella d'Oro in Verzegnis and sweets atPlan farmhouse in Cuel in Rivalpo, where Rosanna, the owner, tells us that her grandmother taught her that cjarsòn perfect is the one in which no flavor prevails over the other and in fact no one can guess the ingredients.
Walks in the woods and Gong baths
Those who love active holidays in Arta Terme in winter can go to skiing on the Zoncolan, the legendary climb of the Giro d'Italia, or you can go on long snowshoe hikes, and in summer you can dedicate yourself to cycling, rafting or hang gliding, which was born in Carnia. But we are here to find silence and inner well-being.
Together with Marco, a mountain guide, and Eleonora, a naturopath, we take an easy walk in the woods that starts from the center of Arta Terme. Marco shows us the mountains we see and explains to us, together with Eleonora, why walking in nature is so good. Thanks to the trees and their essential oils that they release into the air and that we we breathe as we walk in the woods.
Around Arta Terme there is a network of paths for around 40 km in total and of different levels: from those suitable for families with children, even small ones, up to those for more expert hikers. Mauro Löwental he is the man of the paths of the Arta Terme district who designed a network of 16 slutsthe paths in Friulian, and is available to anyone who wants to go trekking with him (he is the owner ofHotel Park Oasis and that's where you can ask about him).
Once our walk is over we move to Grand Hotel Gortani to make a gong bath: It's my first time and I'm not sure what to expect. It is always Marco, the mountain guide, who accompanies us in this experience, which he met and learned in Tibet. He lies down on a mattress and for 45 minutes (sometimes the sessions last twice as long) he immerses himself in a bath of sounds, generated by different instruments played by Marco. It should be relaxing, for me it's quite intense: as the sounds and vibrations increase, my body seems to have to free itself of something. In the end yes, we all feel relieved.
From the town of Arta, looking up, I notice a church: it is the Pieve di San Pietro a Zuglio. There are a total of 10 Carnic parish churches, protagonists of as many stages of the Camino delle Pievi, a circular route of 20 stages that can be covered in 15 days – but which can also be done by bicycle. The parish churches were the ancient baptismal churches built on hills outside the inhabited centers, intended for the evangelization of rural areas and today they are places of silence and spiritual reflection.
The weekend ends with an afternoon in spa centre: Arta Terme is so called because of the thermal water source, the Pudia water, which flows at 9°C from these mountains and whose properties were already known in Roman times. The spa has recently been reopened and renovated, but it is above all the Aufguss rituals that make the experience exceptional. Our Aufguss Meister accompanies us in a scrub ritual that takes place in the Turkish bath, which is an invitation to travel with the mind and abandon oneself to the senses. First he offers us a date flavored with mint and then, after giving each of the participants the salts to massage the body, he makes us close our eyes and, while moving the hot air, recites the verses ofHell of Dante dedicated to Ulysses, the traveler par excellence.
It's time to leave, the air is fresh, the sky is clear and there is silence, a beautiful silence which I try to let resonate within me even in the following days.
Source: Vanity Fair
I’m Susan Karen, a professional writer and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in Entertainment news, writing stories that keep readers informed on all the latest developments in the industry. With over five years of experience in creating engaging content and copywriting for various media outlets, I have grown to become an invaluable asset to any team.
