Feast of Former Emigrants

A festival that speaks the language of return

For decades, a thread has connected Lusevera to all the parts of the world where its children went to seek work: the Feast of Former Emigrants. Born to bring home, at least once a year, those who had left the Alta Val Torre, it has become over time the identity festival of this corner of the Friulian mountains. In 2023, it celebrated its 45th edition, a sign of rare continuity for such a small community.

Organized by the UOLLI association, the festival takes place along Via Capoluogo, in the heart of the village, and blends conviviality with culture. The evenings are often themed: from Argentine night to Balkan night, to the local menu, recalling the places where the valley's inhabitants emigrated.

The flavours of the Alta Val Torre

The gastronomic heart offers the typical dishes of the Alta Val Torre, a mountain cuisine made of handed-down recipes and some "unconventional" touches that tell of the cultural mix brought back by emigrants. Alongside the food, the program intertwines theatre, workshops, concerts, and moments dedicated to minority languages, in an area where Slovenian of Torre is still spoken.

Lusevera, a border village

Lusevera is a small mountain municipality in the province of Udine, about twenty kilometres north of the provincial capital, nestled in the Torre Valley close to the Slovenian border. Its Ethnographic Museum preserves the memory of a bilingual community and a history marked by emigration and the 1976 earthquake. In 2026, the fiftieth anniversary of the earthquake, the festival takes on an even deeper meaning of remembrance and rebirth.