Tombea Cheese Festival — Val Vestino

Tombea, the soul of Val Vestino

The Cima Rest Cheese Festival, in the Municipality of Magasa (Province of Brescia), is the festival that annually celebrates Tombea, a mountain pasture cheese produced on the pastures of Val Vestino and recognized as a Slow Food Presidium. It is a semi-cooked cheese with an intense flavor and herbaceous aroma, the result of a production process that follows rhythms and gestures that have remained virtually unchanged over the centuries.

Cima Rest, a timeless village

The festival takes place in Cima Rest, a historic rural hamlet in Val Vestino, famous for its straw-roofed hay barns, very rare examples of Alpine peasant architecture. It is in this setting, suspended between the mountains that divide Lake Garda from Lake Idro, that the public rediscovers the atmosphere of the alpine pastures every September. The event revolves around two inseparable themes: cheese and transhumance, the return of herds from the high pastures.

A tradition of over forty years

Reaching its 45th edition in 2026, the festival is traditionally held on the second Sunday of September. The food stalls offer Tombea in all its variations, along with other typical products from the valley, while local producers share a cheesemaking heritage that the community is working to have recognized with a DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) status.

A valley to discover

Val Vestino, nestled between the Brescian Garda and the Trentino border, is one of the lesser-known areas of Lombardy. Magasa and its hamlets preserve woods, trails, and mountain pastures, making the festival day also an opportunity to discover a territory that has remained authentic, far from mass tourist circuits.