Mals: The story of an organic Italian town and the community that made it happen By Philip Ackerman-Leist
Orchards in the valley floor were laid out in laser-straight lines and green and black hail The people of Mals are no strangers to nets accentuated the new orchards advance invasions or to putting up a fight. Located in towards Mals. All of the towns further the western tip of the autonomous province down in the Vinschgau Valley had already of South Tirol in Italy and straddling the succumbed to the invasion. Apple orchards convergence of three major valleys where had replaced what was once a diverse Italy, Switzerland, and Austria meet, the agriculture that had supplied the region town of Mals is strewn with castles and with much of what it needed to survive. medieval watchtowers in various states of Mals (also known by its Italian name, Malles glory and disrepair. Each ancient bastion is a reminder that “Malsers� have long known Venosta), the uppermost town in the valley, was the only town in which the traditional how to stand their ground. agricultural patchwork of livestock, However, the invasion that they have faced vegetables, grains, and fruits remained in these early years of the 21st century has relatively intact. As a result, Mals was been something much different. Row upon largely untainted by intensive pesticide use, row of perfectly trellised apple trees have and its citizens were beginning to capitalize been stealthily marching up the valley, often upon an organic future. shrouded in the tractor-whipped fog of pesticide drift. This incursion has been more gradual than those of the past, but the likely permanence of the takeover seemed ominous.
Map of Mals. Credit: Douglas Gayeton
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