The first merchants: the peddlers and their establishment abroad

In this period a very important figure for the sale of Val Gardena’s products was born: the peddler. These merchants didn’t have a permanent seat but roamed from market to market. They left Val Gardena in spring with a basket full of wooden toys on their back and returned only in autumn. In winter they retreated in their houses in order to manufacture new merchandise for the upcoming spring. Over time, their journeys became longer. Thus the merchandise a single peddler could carry wasn’t sufficient anymore. Those who were able to put some money aside settled abroad from where they could sell more easily the articles they bought in the valley. The majority established themselves in large German, Austrian, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese cities. The close economic connections with these countries and the ability of the people of Val Gardena to learn fast new languages helped to pave their way.

Some of these merchants didn’t limit themselves to selling handmade products of Val Gardena but worked also as agent, antique dealer and money changer, whereat they took the maximum advantage of their trading skills. As the emigrated merchants of Val Gardena needed back staff, the families of the valley sent their fourteen- to sixteen-year-old children to the relatives abroad in order to enable them to pursuit a commercial education. It is estimated that in 1800 the peddlers settled abroad had employed 2/3 of the valley’s population, that is to say approximately 1200 people. Many of them achieved great economic prosperity such as Melchiorre Ortner, who lived in Cuenca (Spain) and financed about 300 men during the first Spanish colonial war. But Val Gardena couldn’t really benefit from it, except in case of bereavement, when the relatives left back in the valley received the heritage. In France, which could have become one of the most profit-yielding markets, just a few merchants of Val Gardena settled, as many of them had to give up their job during the French Revolution.

The migration movement in the search of fortune and success outside Val Gardena ended finally in the first half of the 19th century, mainly because of the changes of the trading conditions, from the expansion of the routes to new transport possibilities, and the introduction of the mandatory military service which prohibited the young men to leave the valley for a longer period. Other reasons were the construction of the street which connected the valley with the Brenner road in 1856, and the construction of the Val Gardena train in 1915.