Osmica tradition
Roots of Osmica events go far to 16th century
Across the valley’s farms, open door periods called osmica are a popular custom attracting visitors from far and beyond. According to our traditional ways of selling wine and produce, the farmers open their doors for ten days, welcoming guests to a kind of temporary wine & food restaurant.
Osmica events normally happen twice a year, presenting genuine home dishes and small-farm produce while offering tastings of house wines, in the evenings at times accompanied by music and merrymaking.
Written records suggest this custom developed as a farmers’ right in the sixteenth century, under the rule of Emperor Charlemagne. It was introduced to the Valley with the decree of Empress Maria Theresa in the eighteen century, allowing winegrowers, for a period of eight days in a given year, to sell their own wine and produce at home in “makeshift wine taverns” as their houses were affectionately referred to for the duration.
It is an old tradition that dates back from the late 18th century when the Habsburg Monarchy was ruling the region.