Traditional costumes in Val Badia

“In the Ladin Val Badia, people still dress as in the main valley, with slight differences in the winter sleeves, called tscheapl in Ladin. These, made of green loden, were worn longer. The bridal belt, called a centunje, was also adopted from the nearby Val Gardena.”

The same author offers further observations on the wedding dress: “In Val Badia, inasmuch as a specific wedding dress existed, that is, until the 1880s, the bride wore a simple white linen apron with a red silk ribbon on one side, trimmed with a narrow lace border. The jacket also retained its ancient cut: it fell smoothly to the hips, was lined in red, and made of green wool, like the wedding costumes in Castelrotto. The belt, similar to the one in Gardena, was called a centunje.” (Tiroler Heimatblätter, 1932).

External Influences on Ladin Costumes

An interesting example, so far little studied from a historical-sartorial perspective, is an 18^th century ecclesiastical cloth from Wengen (fig. 1). The image depicts women with flat black hats, neck scarves, and a lace-trimmed goller over a red bib. The woman depicted on the far right is wearing a dark jacket trimmed in green with wide green cuffs, highlighting her close ties to the Brunico area. Behind the priest, a bareheaded man wears a long jacket with a bib and neck warmer, also typical of Val Pusteria as a wedding jacket. Here, the white collar and the older millstone-shaped ruff have been replaced by a dark silk scarf. The black scarf, originating from Venice, was a fashion item also common in the markets of southern Germany.

Collectible figurines and their reliability

The traditional costumes exhibited in museums largely derive from the works of Val Gardena carpenters, created for the antiques and collectors' market: as such, this diminishes their value as authentic sources of rural clothing.

The Bolzano Civic Museum houses a figurine in a bridal costume from Marebbe, sold around 1890 by the Moroder family of Val Gardena. Unlike a similar figurine held at the German National Museum in Nuremberg, it is difficult to establish the dating and reliability of this set of clothing.

The Marebbe figurine in Nuremberg

This piece, also from the Moroder-Lusenberg antiques trade, became part of the Kling collection of the German National Museum in 1932. It included a pair of Marebbe costumes, of which the men's suit was unfortunately lost during the Second World War. However, some drawings remain, kept at the Dietenheim Folk Art Museum. An 1892 catalogue signed by Moroder depicts a man with pipe and cane (fig. 2), identifiable as married by his brown jacket trimmed in green, his red breastplate, and his dark hat with a green border: a clear sign of the strong influence of Val Pusteria on Val Badia.

However, the figurine of the young woman from Marebbe (fig. 3) has survived intact and has been analyzed by expert Claudia Sellheim. She has dated the various elements of the costume as such: headdress: white cotton skullcap, circa 1825–1850; silk scarf, circa 1800–1850; linen goller, circa 1840–1860; bodice trimmed with silk and green velvet ribbons, circa 1825–1860; red silk bib, circa 1825–1875; linen petticoat and undergarments with floral motifs, circa 1840–1850; linen chemise, circa 1850; dark blue linen apron, circa 1830–1870; black wool overgarment, circa 1840–1860; red wool stockings, circa 1825–1875; shoes, 1825–1860.

Analyses suggest that the Moroder-Lusenbergs assembled elements from different eras and contexts to create a women's costume from Marebbe.

Other museum examples

The Bolzano Civic Museum displays a bridal costume from Marebbe (fig. 4 a, b, c, d) featuring a large black hat with a gathered and knotted crown, known as a “Knödelhut” decorated with colourful bows. This headdress is also common in Val Pusteria, Castelrotto and Val Gardena.

The goller, a pleated collar decorated with lace, is worn around the neck. The hip-length jacket, made of light blue loden, features curved seams and a bell-shaped cut with cuffs. The lace-up bodice is bordered with wide bands of light green braid on a red loden background. The bib is trimmed with dark green silk ribbons, while the back is completely covered with quilted green velvet ribbons, allowing only a few glimpses of the red-gold brocade underneath. The pointed top of the bodice is characteristic of Val Pusteria although here too, however, the authenticity of the ensemble remains uncertain.

Finally, the Tyrolean Folklore Museum in Innsbruck houses a figurine by Virgil Rainer (fig. 5) with the caption “Mareo, Val Pusteria, festive costume of a single peasant woman, 1800–1860." Again, neither the dating is verifiable, nor is the consistency of the individual elements. Noteworthy are the narrow-brimmed flat hat with a pompom and the absence of a white apron, replaced by a blue one, unlike the figure preserved in the Bolzano Civic Museum.

Although available sources are limited, there is no doubt that the traditional costumes in Val Pusteria and those from Marebbe are closely related. Differences are found only in the women's costumes, particularly the wedding dresses. The photographic documentation dates back to a period when even the use of traditional costumes during festivities had fallen into disuse.