October is the queen of fruits month and there are many festivals that celebrate the apple harvest and that offer the possibility of a family experience.
Every year in the second weekend of October in the Non Valley a new edition of this extraordinary event takes place, celebrating the apple in its thousands of aspects.
History, cultivation, and beauty meld with activities and tastings, for both young and old, in a wonderful shared experience.
The apple harvest
Also known by the term “coidura” in Italy, the harvesting of apples is a popular activity in the Dolomites.
Fruit of excellence, the apple is harvested in its many varieties at the turn of September and October, in those areas where soil characteristics and climatic conditions have, for decades, encouraged generations of families to cultivate apples.
For several years now, however, the harvesting has expanded to include the general public and many have organised to help transform a business into a real experience, to enjoy with the whole family.
Picking apples is not complicated. It requires only a bit of care: not only in detaching the fruit from the branches, but also and above all, in the storing of fruit inside containers, called giabioni in the local dialect. The day can be taxing, but is nonetheless a true experience for children who, at the end of the day, will take home a little of their labour.
Adopt an apple tree and pick its first fruit
Among the harvesting opportunities offered, is the adoption of an apple tree. You will have the chance to choose the tree, which you can also name, and adopt it. In occasion of the yearly apple fair, you’ll be able to pick your personal apples right in the Non Valley. There are two adoption methods: during your spring or autumn stay, or remotely.
In an orchard you can, accompanied by the farmer, experience the harvest of apples firsthand by picking them straight from the tree! The spoils of the day will be a case of apples weighing about 15 kg or, for the children, the experience of constructing their very own wooden crate, filled with apples from the harvest.
Apple picking during Pomaria
Every year during the second weekend of October, the official fair of the apple, Pomaria as it’s called in honour of Ponoma goddess of orchards, is held. A traveling exhibition, it is being held this year in the village of Cles, and celebrates tradition and the rediscovery of the origins of a fruit that has accompanied man for millennia.
The highlight of the fair is the apple exhibition, where hundreds of varieties of apples, old and new, come to our tables and silently tell old stories. Finally, fun comes to the Pomaria Temporary Apple Store, a store where you can buy varieties of the strangest and most delicious queen of fruit.
Apple Bloom
But the #AppleEvents don't end there. Apples, in the Dolomites valleys, contain unexpected surprises even in the spring. The apple blossom is a fascinating show, although its timing is not easy to determine, because of the weather and soil conditions, which change every year. Thousands of snow-white petals bring a landscape worth seeing!
