The music of the No Borders Festival and the chefs of Ein Prosit: the midsummer dream is in Friuli

In Friuli there is a magical festival, or rather there are two. We are talking about the No Borders Music Festival and the summer version of A Cheers that during the month of July bring together nature, music, sustainability and gastronomy. The first has reached its 29th year, while the second brings together the most interesting chefs on the international scene, creating incredible four-handed dinners. We are in Tarvisio, around the Fusine lakesin a magical time, on the border between Austria and Slovenia, where the summer is green and fresh, and life is slow just as it should be.

On the main stage, between the lake and the mountains, where you can only get there on foot or by bike, This year international and Italian artists performed in front of over twenty thousand spectators: the MorcheebasGoran Bregovic, Thievery Corporation, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Mannarino, Selton, Manu Chao, Brunori SASJan Garbarek Group featuring Trilok Gurtu. Very different musical genres, audiences of all ages, decidedly without borders as in the spirit of the event. «The Borders Music Festival is increasingly a guarantee for the public and for the artists, who meet in spectacular natural settings to attend live performances that have no comparison with more traditional concerts», explained Claudio Tognoni, director of the Consorzio Turistico del Tarvisiano and creator of No Borders Music Festival, already ready to work on the thirtieth anniversary.

Chef Chiara Pavan

Simone DiLuca

And after the concerts, the appointment is around a table, with a glass in hand. Local restaurants welcome the chefs, and a unique meeting of flavors begins. Numerous guests at this edition of Ein Prosit Tarvisio – Summer Edition 2024: Matthew Poggi (Al Cambio Restaurant – Bologna), Roberto Pintadu (Bifrò Restaurant – Turin) and Maxus Askar (Neolokal Restaurant – Istanbul), Matias Perdomo (Contraste Restaurant – Milan) and Inaki Bolumburu (Contrast Restaurant – Amsterdam), Yoji Tokujoshi (Bentoteca Restaurant – Milan), Michael Lazzarini (Contrada Bricconi Restaurant – Oltressenda Alta BG) and Prateek Sadhu (Masque Restaurant – Mumbai), Chiara Pavan, Francesco Brutto (Venissa – Mazzorbo) and Masahiro Homma (Osteria Giorgione – Venice).

Manu Chao

Fabrice Gallina

We have been in that paradise on the weekend of Manu Chao (July 27th and 28th). The clandestine brought all his energy to the stage for over three hours of music. And a short storm didn’t stop him, nor us, in the audience to the tune of King Of The Bongoto remind us as the 63-year-old artist reiterated from the stage: «Viva la libertad, siempre!».

At the stove, then, in the evening we experienced an incredible dinner prepared by chefs Michele Lazzarini of the restaurant Contrada Bricconi – Oltressenda Alta, Bergamo, and Prateek Sadhu of the Masque Restaurant in Mumbai. And again the chef Yoji Tokujoshi of Bentoteca, Milan, brought its unique flavors to the mountains for another evening to remember. To then close with the Embers Festival. Difficult to explain, better to let this video speak for itself.

Special mention for Eugenio Boer’s burgers, get ready for the moment, before the concerts in the shade of the trees of Fusine in Valromana. And how could we forget the fricothe famous Friulian recipe made with potatoes, onions and melted Montasio cheese. We tasted it for the first time in Tarvisio, and this alone would be a great reason to return. If we then add a couple of Alpine lakes that fade from turquoise to bright green, a conifer forest to explore and a temperature of around 20-25 degrees, which is the envy of the rest of Italy, it seems impossible to do without a portion of summer in Friuli. While waiting for next year, the appointment with Ein Prosit is in autumn in Udine.