Alpini festival at the Plassa

In the Pro Loco's summer programme the festival appears twice with the same wording: «Plassa Arera, Alpini base, from 12 noon, traditional Alpini festival run by ANA Zambla», on Sunday 12 July and Sunday 9 August 2026. The programme gives no menu, prices or booking details: for more information the reference is the Pro Loco, on 0345 95541.

The two Sundays fell on weekends full of other events: on 12 July, in piazza Carrara, the Coldiretti markets and a visit to a cheese dairy in the area; on 9 August the fairy tale in the woods at the adventure park of the Colle di Zambla and the afternoon opening of the Minerals Museum in Zorzone.

There are three groups of the national Alpini association in the municipality, all in zone 25 Valle Serina of the Bergamo section: Oltre il Colle, Zambla and Zorzone. Each has its own festivals: the Zambla Alpini at the Plassa, those of the main village on the last weekend of July, those of Zorzone with the mid-August festival at the hamlet's parish centre, together with the Fanti and the sports club.

The Alpini also appear at the village's other events: chestnuts and mulled wine at the Autumn Festival, the mulled wine at the 2024 living nativity, the refreshment stand of the Mountain Festival. In the Val Serina, at the end of June, there is also the Alpini training camp: in 2026 the fifth edition, at Costa Serina from 25 to 28 June.

The Plassa is the locality above Zambla Alta, at about 1,150 metres according to OpenStreetMap, where the road to the Alpe Arera starts: from the Colle di Zambla a municipal road climbs about four kilometres through the meadows, and from the centre of Zambla Alta it is about 2.1 kilometres as the crow flies. You park in the Plassa parking areas, near the Camping Arera; line B buses go as far as Passo Zambla, not to the Plassa, and do not run on Sundays.

Those who want to go higher after lunch will find the Alpe Arera road open, reopened on 22 April 2026: at the 1,600-metre car park parking costs 4 euros a day for any vehicle, with the ticket to be bought before driving up in the participating shops or at the Plassa parking meters; there is also a 30-euro season pass.

From the Plassa you walk up in a quarter of an hour to Giuliano Mauri's Cattedrale Vegetale; with the car at the Alpe Arera car park you reach the Cà d'Arera hut in a few minutes and the Capanna 2000 in about an hour, the start of the Sentiero dei Fiori and of the normal route up Pizzo Arera. In July and August, for Zambla Alta, the ERA5 averages give minimums of about 11 °C and maximums of 20 °C, with about 230-240 millimetres of rain a month: it is wise to bring something for the rain.