Home › Eat › Food experiences › Malga Stenfle · Via Costalunga 17
MOUNTAIN FOOD · VICENZA
Eat in a working mountain dairy farm among horses and high pastures
Cheese, polenta, horses and walking trails in the high pastures of the Vicenza mountains
Malga Stenfle is locataed above Gallio in one of Vicenza’s great mountain landscapes, with horses and cattle in the surrounding pastures, woodland trails leaving nearby and a table built around cheese, polenta, cured meats and other highland dishes. Come for lunch and you can easily turn it into a mountain day, with the Valle dei Mulini, old water mills, forest paths and the open meadows of the Asiago Plateau all within reach.
Know before you go
Opening days and meal service can vary with the season. Check directly before travelling, especially outside the main summer period. Phone: +39 347 649 0762
About
Malga Stenfle was featured in Geo, the long running nature, travel and environmental programme of RAI, Italy’s national public broadcaster. The programme followed cattle, horses, Cimbrian culture, mountain cheese and the working life of the malghe through the seasons. Cimbrian culture refers to the Germanic language and traditions that developed in several communities of the plateau over centuries. Curiosity National Geographic has another reason for sending people up here: the Asiago Plateau is the birthplace of the cheese that borrowed its name. The name Asiago belongs to both the plateau and the cheese. During the Venetian period, cattle gradually replaced sheep on these high pastures, encouraging a larger dairy economy and the production of the cheese eventually sold under the Asiago name.
THE SPOT
Malga Stenfle stands above Gallio, one of the seven historic communities of the Asiago Plateau, among meadows and woodland with open views across the mountains. Horses and foals graze beside the property, paths leave almost directly into the surrounding pasture, and in late spring the meadows around Stenfle are known for crocuses and great spreads of yellow dandelions. Gallio itself is a mountain resort for hiking and Nordic skiing, with the Melette and Campomulo areas nearby.
Recent menus and diners mention tagliatelle with Angus beef ragù, Angus beef with polenta, grilled meats, mountain soups, cured meats, cheese and strudel. Polenta is the cornmeal staple of northern Italian mountain cooking, served soft or grilled beside meat and cheese. Across the Asiago Plateau, a traditional malga table can also include Asiago DOP, the protected cheese named after the plateau, together with fresh caciotta, tosella, a young soft cheese traditionally cooked on a hot plate, butter, ricotta, sopressa and salami.
THE VALLEY OF THE MILLS
There is a good walk to attach to lunch. Nearby Valle dei Mulini means “Valley of the Mills”. Water is unusually abundant here because most of the Asiago Plateau is karst terrain, with water disappearing rapidly underground. Remains survive of mills operating from the sixteenth century onwards, first grinding cereals grown on the plateau and also powering machines that crushed tree bark to extract tannin for leather making. Old mill sites, woodland and streams make it an easy piece of local history to understand without entering a museum. Guided walks have previously linked the valley directly with lunch or dinner at Malga Stenfle
WHY GO
Because Vicenza also looks like this: horses and cattle in high pasture, spruce forest, walking paths through old mill country, polenta and mountain cheese, with the Asiago Plateau opening around you. From central Vicenza, the drive takes roughly an hour, making Stenfle an easy full day or half day mountain detour from the city.