FERRAGOSTO IN ALTA BADIA
FERRAGOSTO IN THE DOLOMITES HAS ITS OWN RHYTHM
Across Italy, 15 August marks one of the defining days of summer. In Alta Badia, it arrives at the height of the mountain season: long days outdoors, busy village terraces, mountain huts, local celebrations and evenings that stretch well beyond the return from the trails.
For anyone wondering what to do for Ferragosto in Alta Badia, La Villa is a particularly good place to be.
During Ferragosto, La Villa celebrates Santa Maria dal ciüf, its traditional Ferragosto festival and one of the village’s principal summer events. The programme runs from 11:00 and brings together food, music and Ladin traditions, with the traditional parade passing through the centre of La Villa at 14:30.
It gives Ferragosto here a distinctly local character. Alta Badia may be busy in August, but the day remains connected to the villages, their communities and the traditions of the valley.
FERRAGOSTO IN LA VILLA
START IN THE MOUNTAINS
Ferragosto in Alta Badia is still, fundamentally, a day in the Dolomites.
Take the morning slowly or head higher: walk through the meadows above La Villa, follow one of the trails towards the surrounding peaks, cycle through the valley or make a mountain hut the destination for lunch.
By mid-August, the mountains are in full summer. The landscape is green, the days are long, and much of Alta Badia can be explored directly from the villages.
FERRAGOSTO APERITIVO IN LA VILLA
Late afternoon is when the pace begins to change.
After a day outside and the celebrations in La Villa, Ferragosto moves towards aperitivo — somewhere to sit, order a drink and let the evening develop without immediately moving on to dinner.
At B-Side, inside Soleil Alpine Lifestyle Hotel in La Villa, aperitivo takes a different direction.
Vinyl replaces the usual background playlist. Records move through an analogue high-fidelity system, with selectors drawing from a collection that crosses genres, generations and geography.
The room was conceived around listening, yet it remains a bar: somewhere to meet, drink and spend time as the mountain day becomes evening.
And you don’t need to be staying at the hotel to come in.
AN ANALOGUE EVENING IN THE DOLOMITES
There is something particularly fitting about listening to records here.
The Dolomites encourage a different relationship with time. Days are dictated by light, weather, distance and landscape. Vinyl operates with a similar sense of intention: choosing a record, placing the needle, listening to a side from beginning to end.
At B-Side, that analogue culture sits within the natural setting of Alta Badia.
Aperitivo can become another record. One drink can become dinner nearby. The evening can remain entirely unplanned.
WHAT DO IN LA VILLA DURING FERRAGOSTO
A Ferragosto day in La Villa might begin with a walk in the Dolomites, continue through the village celebrations and traditional parade, then slow down over aperitivo as evening arrives.
That combination is perhaps what makes Ferragosto in Alta Badia distinctive: mountain culture and contemporary alpine life occupying the same day.