In the past, broad beans, vegetables like cabbage, turnips, and potatoes (introduced only starting from the XIX century) were cultivated and then those cereals like barley and some types of wheat that can acclimatize to a mountain environment were grown in the Ampezzo valley. For centuries, from the earliest settlements, agricultural activities have characterized the valley floor and created the present landscape. Every useful surface was used according to the typical methods of traditional agriculture, by leaving a field fallow or enriching it with nitrogen-rich plants, like legumes.
The use of natural fertilizer integrated into the whole cycle of economic production.
In addition to food crops, the flax plant is also noteworthy among farming crops because, together with wool, it was used to make fabrics. A careful look at the old photographs of the villages crowning the valley reveals that the ovens used to process the fibers to make linen were present until recent times. Behind all these processes there was always the industrious, skilful hand of a woman, true keeper of traditions and particularly sensitive to all of nature’s gifts. When medicines were rare, it was she who collected the right herbs to heal every illness.