These uncultivated, high-altitude grasslands were hard-won from the thick orests which covered the mountainsides hundreds of years ago. Generations of farming families have brought their herds of hardy sheep, goats, and cattle to spend the summer grazing in the sunshine, helping to keep the forests at bay and, in the process, creating unique ecosystems of plants, wild animals and traditions which vary from one hillside to another.

Nowadays, these once secluded alpages have become a destination unto themselves, crisscrossed by an infinite network of hiking trails and dotted with farms offering homemade specialities.