Charcoal Burner Festival

The Charcoal Burner Festival in Bondone

Every last Sunday of July, the small community of Bondone, the southernmost municipality in the Chiese Valley in the Autonomous Province of Trento, heads up to Malga Alpo to celebrate the Charcoal Burner Festival. On this green plateau at an altitude of about 1,470 meters, between the alpine chapel and the restored mountain dairy, the pojat—the characteristic wood stack used by charcoal burners to transform wood into precious charcoal—starts smoking once again.

A trade that shaped the village's history

For centuries, Bondone was the village of the carbonér: entire families would leave the village for eight or nine months a year to work in the forests of Trentino and the Brescian valleys, building and guarding the charcoal piles day and night. It was grueling work, consisting of fifteen or sixteen-hour days, which almost disappeared around the 1950s but remained deeply embedded in the community's identity, so much so that it is even mentioned in the municipal statutes.

The festival program

The event is curated by the I Carbonér association in collaboration with the MUSE - Science Museum of Trento. The most evocative moment is the Alba in carbonaia (Dawn at the Charcoal Pile): at daybreak, amidst the first light of morning, the pojat is lit—the most delicate phase of carbonization—accompanied by music and a breakfast featuring local products. On Sunday, the heart of the festival, the day continues with demonstrations, games, skill tests, and activities designed for both adults and children to discover the ancient art of the charcoal burner up close.

• Lighting of the pojat and explanation of the carbonization phases
• Demonstrations and stories about the charcoal burners' trade by I Carbonér
• Games and skill tests for families and children
• Traditional lunch with polenta and spit-roasted meat (by reservation)

A mountain lunch

At noon, the festival becomes an occasion for conviviality: the traditional lunch with polenta and spit-roasted meat is served by reservation, a simple and hearty dish that recalls the humble cuisine of the woodsmen and charcoal burners of the past.

Between nature and memory

Nestled in the Ledro Alps and Judicaria Biosphere Reserve, the Charcoal Burner Festival is much more than a re-enactment: it is a way to preserve and pass on the history of Bondone and its people to new generations. A day in the mountains that combines hiking, folk tradition, and local gastronomy, in the silence of the woods that for generations provided work and sustenance to an entire village in Trentino-Alto Adige.