Roncadori, Canopi, and Krumer

The roots of Mocheni mobility

In the Mocheni Valley, echoes of distant languages and stories of travel resonate. Here, a short distance from Trento and the Valsugana, the mountains have always taught people not to stay still: you leave, you return, you change, you grow. While it is true that the valley, isolated from major communication routes, has been able to keep a cohesive rural society intact, it is also true that it has not acted as a barrier, but rather as a bridge for the movement of people, and as a spur for its people to adapt to changing times and situations.

The Mocheni Valley is today a scenic jewel and a crossroads of stories that have unfolded over the centuries, made of populations that arrived in the Alps from Germany, and then again, of men who, on foot, traveled the roads of Central Europe to trade. The valley was shaped by three great migratory cycles that defined the economic structure and spirit of the Mocheni.

The Middle Ages: The Pioneers (Roncadori)

The first act of Mocheni history dates back to the 13th century. During this period, the Lords of Caldonazzo encouraged the settlement of populations coming mainly from Bavaria and Tyrol. These early settlers were the so-called "roncadori": farmers skilled in clearing and creating fields from uncultivated land and forests. Thanks to their work, the scattered "masi" (farmsteads) that still characterize the landscape today were born, transforming the forest into pastures and cultivated fields. This first wave transplanted the core of the Mocheni language into Trentino, an ancient German dialect that has evolved autonomously for centuries.

The Renaissance: The Era of the Canopi (Knappen)

In the 15th and 16th centuries, mobility changed its nature: many specialized workers began to arrive in the Fersina Vaslley: the "Canopi" (from the German Knappen), expert miners from German mining districts (Saxony, Bohemia, Northern Tyrol). Under the aegis of the Prince-Bishops of Trento, the valley became an important mining district during that period. The miners brought an almost military organization and enjoyed their own specific mining rights. Hundreds of tunnels were opened for the extraction of copper, silver-bearing lead, and pyrite. The coexistence between the agricultural soul (the descendants of the roncadori) and the extractive one (the new miners) created a hybrid social fabric, not without tensions.

The Modern Age: The Epic of the Krumer

With the depletion of the ore veins in the 17th century, the valley risked economic collapse. The land, though cleared with great effort, was no longer enough for everyone; the response was a new, enterprising form of mobility: seasonal itinerant trade. This activity involved the men. During the winter season, when less work was required in the fields, they would move toward the territories of the Habsburg Monarchy, selling their goods door-to-door in rural areas: first decorated and colored glass plates, and later mainly haberdashery.

Thus, the "Krumer" were born. Leveraging bilingualism and the Austro-Hungarian Empire passport, the men of the valley began to migrate seasonally "from All Saints' Day to Easter." They left with their kraks (wooden chests) on their shoulders and walked toward the most remote places of the empire. These "pioneers of trade" reached Vienna, Prague, and Budapest, bringing the Mocheni into the heart of Europe and Europe, with its technological and cultural novelties, deep into the farmsteads of the valley.

Thanks to bilingualism and the network of contacts in Central Europe, the Mocheni also developed profitable trade. This "economic nomadism" allowed the valley to accumulate small amounts of capital, which were then reinvested in the maintenance of the farmsteads, where the management of the homes, fields, and livestock remained firmly in the hands of the women.