“At the outbreak of WWI, Trentino was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under Franz Joseph I. As the war drew near, the Kaiser decided to evacuate those bordering peoples who would have been along the borderline in a few months. Although the province was driven by irredentist movements, it was all about protecting his subjects.
In Ledro Valley the imperial criers forced the people to rush: in 24 hours all the inhabitants of the valley had to leave their houses, their goods and animals and get to Riva del Garda on foot, where the train would have carried them to some inland areas. The allowed luggage was 10 kilos each. The uprooting was brutal, but necessary to their survival; ten kilos were almost nothing, and at the end, what they brought with them was only their language and their culture.
They used to eat mush but in Bohemia, where they lived during the war, corn and corn flour didn’t exist: their staple was potatoes. They replace the corn flour with Kartoffeln, and so potato mush was born. When the disgraced people got back home mainly on foot, much after the end the war, they found their land war torn, the animals dead, the houses shattered. With their head down they started to rebuild everything, appreciating the fact of being alive while keeping on cooking the potato mush.”
Rifugio Pernici
The Nino Pernici mountain hut is the arrival of the new Garda Trek – Top Loop, a hiking itinerary around Lake Garda. Peak after peak, hut after hut, it draws a real crown on the mountains surrounding Garda Trentino.
It’s a kind of challenging hiking for trained and experienced hikers who aren’t afraid of exposed transitions and are ready to face demanding drops. The reward? Breathtaking views, great pleasure and the opportunity to end the day enjoying the warm hospitality of the mountain huts. In this case, Marco de Guelmi, manager of the Pernici hut, will be there to welcome you with his family, treating you with a slice of tasty potato mush to recover after the strains of this long ascending leg.
