The Sarentine Alps in Alto Adige are a precious uncontaminated treasure chest on the border with Austria where, perhaps because they are so far from everything, extraordinary traditions have remained alive, such as the large leather belts worn by men, embroidered in a almost baroque, with the rachis of peacock tail feathers, like the Little Stone Men, 100 characters made of stones deliberately placed one on top of the other, some small, others life-size, all standing like soldiers guarding the " Hohe Reisch”, a rocky dome 2000 meters high, or again like the Reggele, the long pipes with straight stems still made by hand, or like, again, the Klockeln, the men with imaginative masks and large hats who during the period of Advent walk around the streets and houses with heavy wooden clogs ringing loud bells to scare away evil spirits. A court document from 1540 proves that witches' dances and satanic feasts were celebrated here about 500 years ago. Very ancient inlays in the rocks suggest that centuries ago the belvedere was a Celtic place of worship.
We could go on for a long time listing the original customs of these places because, for the populations of these valleys and these mountains, culture and customs are not only elements of social cohesion but also an expression of the joy of living, and traditions they are considered the most precious asset that binds young people to previous generations. Traditions that have survived, revived by popular participation in the preservation of local customs and traditions, precisely because of the relative isolation that has characterized this area despite its proximity to Bolzano. Once the Val Serentina was even isolated from the world, it was thanks to Maximilian I of Habsburg that the first road connecting with Bolzano was built in 1494. We then had to wait until the 21s for the construction of a new road with XNUMX galleries that would remove these valleys from their isolation.
An isolation that has not harmed the character of these German-speaking populations in the slightest, who live in a harmonious relationship with nature and their history. If there's one thing that strikes you about the people of Sarentine, it's that they are very particular types, unique in their kind, impossible to imitate. Their character has been described several times as gruff and distrustful of novelties. Knowing them, they actually present themselves with another face: ironic, always ready for a joke, inclined to a sense of humour. A proof? If you meet a man with a hat decorated with red ribbons, he is still available for the fairer sex, but if there are green ribbons instead, it is a sign that his wife is around.
If at this point curiosity pricks you, when the time comes to go and discover this portion of Italy which is an open-air anthropological museum, it will be good to write down an address, that of "Terra", a two-Michelin-star hotel and restaurant, the highest in Italy, being located at 1600 meters above sea level, with a view of the Dolomites, in that of Sarentino. More than with a view, it should be said that you will be projected onto the Dolomites and all the other surrounding mountains because "Terra" is an all-glass construction that ranges 360 degrees over nature, it is immersed in it. This is the tangible expression of the philosophy of life of Heinrich Schneider Chef and owner with his sister Gisela, who feel an integral part of this area, as well as their whole family.
"As children - says Heinrich - we were two brothers who ran barefoot in the meadows and in the woods, we played with the grass and pine cones, the mother prepared us an herbal infusion which was more healthy than good for us".
For Gisela and Heinrich the secluded position of their home, the isolation imposed by the winter season of these places did not weigh at all because everything that was shown to their eyes was in their DNA. In a certain sense, their fate was sealed by their grandfather Johann Brugger, who had inherited a small hut nearby. Grandfather Brugger immediately thought of transforming the refuge into an inn the "Alpenrose", with a bowling alley. But he wasn't satisfied. And so he threw himself into the timber business, which went so well that in 1940 he was able to fulfill his dream, as a passionate skier, of building a refuge.
Here happened one day a young skier who knew his stuff, had done - in pioneering times - the Haute Route of Mont Blanc up to Monte Rosa. He immediately fell in love with the owner's daughter, Resi. The wedding followed. Both passionate about these places, they didn't think in the slightest of moving elsewhere or going down to the valley, and so it was that the parents of Heinrich and Gisela undertook at the end of the 70s with many difficulties to build the Auener Hof hotel, a real challenge, since at the time, there was nothing here, roads, electricity, running water, telephone. To go to the village you have to go on foot or by horse.
It all started with those walks in the woods looking for mushrooms
Tenacious people, these Montagnards of the Sarentines. A tenacity that comes from their relationship with the mountain considered mother, sister, friend, something intimate.
“I lived all my childhood – recalls the Chef – here in Sarentino, at our high-altitude hotel restaurant. Since our house was in a very isolated place, we had no neighbors. For this reason my sister and I always played together wandering through the woods and meadows. In the summer our mother sent us to pick mushrooms and wild herbs for her cooking”.
And it is in those walks in the Alpine woods that the young Heinrich understands that this was and will be his world. He imagined those herbs more in a dish than in herbal teas.
Good food, on the other hand, had always been of great importance to the Scheider family. “Our dad had taken us as children to eat in some starred restaurants. And there my great love for cooking was born. In fact, after my studies, I began my career in the kitchen with my mother and she gave me all the freedom I needed. I began to create my first courses. I still remember the first one: Tagliolini with wild herb pesto. I did it with wild herbs from the meadows around our house. Even my mom loved it."
Heinrich feels that the data is taken. He attends the hotel management school in Bressanone and Merano. He then passes from theory to practice His first experience is at La Perla di Corvara in Val Badia, a refined gourmet destination in the heart of the Dolomites, one Michelin star. Then he goes to France for an internship of just 3 weeks at a two-starred restaurant: the Auberge du Cheval blanc in Alsace, an old eighteenth-century post house, managed by the same family since 1959, open to a high-category clientele.
But in reality, the young Heinrich made his apprenticeship in the kitchen of the family restaurant by helping his mother, who, based on the results obtained, proved to be an excellent teacher.
Because everything that Schneider is today is the result of a gastronomic culture that he created on his own because he can be considered to all intents and purposes self-taught, not having frequented the kitchens of great international chefs. “It was very difficult at first, he admitted in an interview, as I had to learn the techniques by myself. Then the love for cooking and the peculiarity of being in the mountains helped me find my personal style. Today I am happy with this path, because I can say that I have not been influenced by any of the great mentors, I can think freely and create my own style".
It was therefore the memories of their happy childhood, the passion for these places and a bit of healthy madness, which is quite recurrent in the family, ("we wanted to create a place to share these experiences with people from all over the world") that push Heinrich at 26 and his sister at 23, who in the meantime has graduated as a Sommelier and manages the cellar, to want to embark on a rather daring enterprise, transforming their parents' hotel restaurant into a high-altitude gourmet restaurant, and to what a share! 1600 meters.
“When I started my career, times were very difficult. Our hotel restaurant was a simple and traditional structure. The seasons were short. The road to the Michelin star was a tough one. In an isolated place like ours where no one can find you and nobody knew you… Transforming our hotel restaurant from a simple hotel into a residence, as it is today, means that the clientele is changed 100%. So we started from scratch. But with a lot of patience, passion and sacrifices we made it! My sister and I have always believed in ourselves, we had the same passion and the same energy and the support of our huge family".
So in 2008 the first Michelin star arrives. Meanwhile, Gisela's partner Karl also enters the business. Restaurant and hotel are revolutionized and modernized with scenographic effects. Even the name changes to Terra The Magic Place Relais&Chateaux more in line with the new international dimension to mean "connected to the earth, open to the world, creative"
The kitchen as a mirror of the surrounding nature
With great passion, concentration and perseverance, Heinrich builds the philosophy of his cuisine over time, which presents itself as a mirror of the nature and territory of these mountains and these extraordinary valleys. Heincich becomes its ambassador because he – he says – “I want to give a strong memory to the customer who arrives here with us, with particular and sometimes even unknown ingredients always presented with elegance and flavour”. The Chef condenses the philosophy of his cuisine into five rules: flavor of the dish, quality local ingredients, aesthetics in the presentation, lightness of the dishes, the percentage of ingredients on the menu: 20% meat/20% fish/60% vegetables-herbs” . Simple isn't it? At 1600 meters! Yet it took years of hard work, continuous improvements, perfectionism to get the first Michelin star and then in 2017 two stars always maintained until today.
Two stars that reverberate already when you start with a steamed bread and chives that goes with a butter with sour cream, fir oil and malt beer. And yet it is the delicate flavors of the forest that envelop you with the Essence of venison with dehydrated berries and smoked speck foam, a consommé to be inhaled, meditating, even before being sipped. Or with ravioli glazed with wild herbs. You feel all the freshness of the musk-scented mountain streams when you bring to your mouth a char with burnt milk, dill oil and black pearls, while the herbs, lichens, heather of the mountain lakes envelop you in tasting the fillet of Pike-perch with forest aromas with dried cornflower petals, radishes and grass peas just as the scent of the valley pastures reaches you directly with The Terra, organic beef tea with mushrooms and berries or with organic veal with dried leaf and herbs with a side dish of peas yellow onions and yeasted shallots.
After all, for Heinrich and Gisela, even today, that their two-starred restaurant is on the lips of many, that Terra has gained international fame, not much has changed since their childhood. In their kitchen there is an air of joy and amazement, the same that guided them as children when they ventured into the woods with their basket in search of wild herbs and mushrooms to take home. They still do it only that they take the herbs to the restaurant, they use more than 60, where Heinrich manages to surprise his patrons by moving between freeze-drying and smoking, playing with the textures of the foods, with the internal structure of the food, the unusual combinations, in a game of levity and subtraction that never betrays tradition and history, always aiming to touch and offer the heart of its land. Which then is his and Gisela's.
And if you ask him what he would still like to do in life, he replies disarmingly: "I have everything I need to be happy... I hope everything stays that way!"
