‘It’s a cry for help’: Italian farmers introduce tourist levy on popular hiking trail

Italian farmers are tackling overtourism by charging a visitors a fee for hiking on a public footpath in the Dolomites.

Four farmers have set up a turnstile on the Seceda mountain, a popular place to visit for pictures of the striking Odle Peaks, according to The Telegraph.

Some 8,000 people walked along the mountain path on a single day last week.

Videos on social media show long lines of tourists queuing behind one another on the Seceda trail. It is thought that more visitors are swapping beach resorts for the mountains this year in search of cooler temperatures.

While there is a long-established “right to roam” convention throughout the Dolomites, farmers say that the influx of visitors has damaged their land, and that they do not have the requisite funds to restore it.

At the turnstile, visitors have to pay €5 (£4.32) per person for access to the path.

The turnstile was set up for a brief period in July as a deliberate protest by the farmers. They hoped the action would compel the authorities to supply compensation for the care of the meadows and path.

It was closed down after an initial, seven-day stint, but reopened it this week as the crowds continued to flock to see the peaks.

The mountain is accessed via a cable car which carries hikers in the summer and skiers in winter.

“It’s a cry for help,” said Georg Rabanser, one of the owners of the land that the path flows through, The Telegraph reported.

“We were hoping for a call from the provincial government, but we received nothing, just hot air, nothing of substance.

“We didn’t even receive a cease and desist order,” he added.

“The authorities need to understand that while the cable car operators receive huge amounts of money from the invasion of tourists, we don’t make anything and yet we have to bear the cost of damage done to our land and the rubbish that is left behind by badly behaved visitors,” he said.

Meanwhile, the local tourist association are questioning the legality of the new turnstile.

Christina Demetz, a destination manager at the Val Gardena tourist board, told The Independent that visitors should not feel obliged to pay the fee, and that plans are in place to remove the turnstile.

“Seceda is a high alpine pasture with many landowners who are obligated to maintain and mow the meadows—an essential contribution to the area’s unique biodiversity,” Ms Demetz explained. “A long-established hiking trail runs across the land at the top of the ridge, and many people walk along it. However, visitors often stray off the path and sit on the blooming meadows, which still need to be mowed”.

To tackle this, she said rangers have been deployed in the Dolomites to raise awareness among visitors to keep to the path, and explained that the turnstile asking for a fee was a “private initiative” of a landowner

“This measure was not coordinated with our organisation and is beyond our responsibility,” she said. “We have already informed the relevant authorities of the situation, as free and fair access to hiking trails is very important to us.”

The matter is being looked into by the Province of South Tyrol and the local municipal office, which plan to have the turnstile removed, Ms Demetz said, adding that there are two other alternative routes that allow access to the pasture.

The Independent has contacted the Province of Bolzano/South Tyrol for comment.

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