The pigs go up to be fattened on whey. The cheese is
not commonly made at the alpe, but as soon as the curd has been
pressed clear of whey, it is sent down on men's backs to the
village to be made into cheese. Sometimes there will be a little
hay grown on an alpe, as at Gribbio and in Piora; in this case
there will be some chalets built, which will be inhabited for a few
weeks and left empty the rest of the year.
The monte is the pasture land immediately above the highest
enclosed meadows and below the alpe. The cattle are kept here in
spring and autumn before and after their visit to the alpe. The
monte has many houses, dairies, and cowhouses,--being almost the
paese, or village, in miniature. It will always have its chapel,
and is inhabited by so considerable a number of the villagers, for
so long a time both in spring and autumn, that they find it worth
while to make themselves more comfortable than is necessary for the
few who make the short summer visit to the alpe.
Every inch of the ascent was good, but the descent was even better
on account of the views of the Dalpe glacier on the other side the
Ticino, towards which ones back is turned as one ascends. All day
long the villages of Dalpe and Cornone had been tempting me, so I
resolved to take them next day. This I did, crossing the Ticino
and following a broad well-beaten path which ascends the mountains
in a southerly direction.
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