The Alpe di Siusi (Seiser Alm) is the largest high mountain plateau in Europe: a sea of rolling meadow spread over fifty square kilometres between 1,680 and 2,350 metres, under the unmistakable shape of the Sciliar and the spires of the Denti di Terrarossa. Crossing it feels like walking through a landscape with no edges, the grass moving in the wind and old alpine dairies dotting the skyline. It has been summer pasture for centuries.
The plateau belongs to the Sciliar area and to the villages of Castelrotto, Fiè, and Siusi, where Tyrolean farming culture still runs deep. Since the Bronze Age these pastures have taken in cattle, horses, and sheep through the summer, and the bond between the people and this mountain has never broken. The Sciliar in particular has always carried an air of legend, tied in the popular mind to stories of witches and their nighttime gatherings.
On nearby Monte Bullaccia the so-called Witches' Benches still stand, at the end of a short, atmospheric panoramic walk that brings those old stories back to life. The choice to clamp down hard on car traffic, banning access to the plateau through the middle of the day, is a deliberate bet on conservation. In summer the Alpe is the place for easy, panoramic walking. In winter it turns into a paradise for cross-country, snowshoeing, and gentle downhill runs.
