My first guest arrived early in the morning before ten, but was only passing through on a longer walk and was to come back later. For lunch two men and a boy arrived, ate minestrone, pasta with freshly made pesto and then had my special apricot cake. My next guests were Gertrud, which is a regular guardiana at Soveltra, with her husband Ulrich and their friend Ursula. They had what is here called a “piatto Ticinese”, a cold platter of salami and cheese, accompanied by the mild and very tasty “Bucaneve” white wine. A trio of Italians also made a visit, having coffee and admiring the spot. When they left I sat with Gertrud, Ulrich and Ursula for a long time and had a really nice chat. I found out that they were here in Monte Predee (a stop on the path up to Soveltra from Prato Sornico) for the summer, but live in Basle and Ursula actually grew up the same street in which Roberta lives. And Ulrich is a retired German doctor who once lived in Gießen, where my sister studied medicine. Coincidences.

We talked about my plans and experiences so far and about the region, its dialects, history and legends. Ulrich told me about local writers that are keeping up the tradition of using dialect and writing about the nature spirits, which have always played an important role in the valleys here. He specially named the author Tim Kron and his books “Quatemberkinder” and “Vrenelis Gärtli” as well as “Nicht Anfang und nicht Ende” by Plinio Martin, which I have read about in the guide I have for this part of Ticino. This could be of interest for readers of German at least.

I also learned that the valleys of Ticino were not always as deserted as they are today. In the 19^th century there was an overpopulation and many families had to leave everything behind and emigrate to northern Italy, later to countries like the USA and Australia. My guests were really nice and I learned new things about Ticino. Maybe they will return again while I’m here, even though I’m not sure if it’s because of me they want to come back, really, or just of the cake…

I was preparing dinner and was about to start the fire when my lodgers for the night arrived. They had the first day of the “Via Alta” behind them and were sighing under their heavy backpacks. They weren’t that nice, one of the two especially was really grumpy, never said thanks or anything of the kind and I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t seem to appreciate the elaborate dinner I made for them. Which consisted of champignons in creamy gorgonzola sauce and fried rice cakes for antipasto, freshly made Lasagne and salad and then a tris of desert of chocolate pudding, warm filled pear and the remains of the raspberry delight of the day before.

Shortly before they ate, another guest arrived, who again is not really a guest, but a local, who came up to spend the night and go fishing late in the evening and very early in the morning. Michele is also a regular Soveltra guardiano and lives in Pian di Peccia. I fed him when he came back from fishing and sat with him after the others had gone to bed. We chatted until quite late, I think it was twelve. And I had to get up at six, because the “Alta Via” twosome wanted to leave early.