Turchia Festival

moena, 18-19-20 of august

Friday, August 18th

Hrs 17.00 The Festival begins!.

Hrs 17.00 - 20.00 Aperitif in Moena! With live music in the piazza of the neighbourhood Turchia.

Saturday, August 19th

From 07.30 to 21.00 Breakfast, food stands opening, concerts, folk music and dances.

Sunday, August 20th

From 07.30 to 21.00 Breakfast, food stands opening, concerts, folk music and dances.

Neighbourhood "turchia" between history and legend

Why is there a neighbourhood in Moena called Turkey? It seems like it got its name from a Turkish soldier. Various historians have tried to find the origin of such an unusual name. We still don't know for sure: some suggest its name comes from the word "torchia", where the linen was worked. Others took the "literal" way and recalled the legend of the Turkish soldier at the time of the Vienna siege by the Ottomans. 

The legend has it that this soldier was part of the Turkish army that in 1683 besieged the Austrian capital. He was captured but was able to escape and reached Moena, by now exahusted. He was here well received and generously rescued. Moved and astonished by the altruism of the locals, he decided to settle in Moena definitively, precisely in the neighbourhood once called "Ischiazza", now Turchia. 

Nowadays, walking through the narrow streets and alleys of the ward, you will in Strada Damiano Chiesa a fountain, topped by a head with Turskish featurs, a beard and a turbant. On the facade of one of the houses of the ward, you will find a fresco of a Sultan and his wives and servants. Another fresco shows a Turkish couple on a rug suroounded by palm trees.