…this is what is needed for the healthy, constant, and fruitful growth of the movement. This must be done, above all, with full respect for other users of the great outdoors and in collaboration with local institutions. This is demonstrated by the Bernadia Trail Area and the Natisone Bike Arena, the two local businesses in Benečija, the protagonist of the first episode of Sentieri e Piaceri, our project dedicated to the 360° tourism offering of bike destinations.
We begin our interview by asking Dario Rizzo, Head of Outdoor Activities at DMO Turismo Benečija.
When was DMO Turismo Benečija founded?
The Benečija Tourism DMO is an operational structure of the ISK (Institute for Slovenian Culture) and has been responsible for implementing and coordinating tourism offerings in the Natisone, Torre, Ferro, and Canale Valleys since 2022. It operates in 15 municipalities in the Province of Udine, where the Slovenian linguistic minority has historically settled in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.
What was the primary objective?
Because we believe it’s no longer enough to simply support our language and culture, but that it’s also necessary to strengthen the economy in our valleys, we have organized them as a single tourist destination, following our tourism development strategy. We believe tourism development is a very real opportunity that encourages entrepreneurship, new opportunities for young people, and, consequently, increased economic prosperity. Essentially, it’s an attempt to halt the depopulation that plagued these valleys throughout the twentieth century.
What is the heart of your commitment in the territory?
The above mentioned tourism strategy, which we adhere to, is based on four pillars, which are:
- food and wine
- culture
- hiking
- cycling
Different types of actions have been undertaken for each of these. From a food and wine perspective, we provide organizational support to the network of approximately fifty Slow Food Travel operators active in our area. Furthermore, our municipalities are home to three native grape varieties used to make Ramandolo, Refosco di Faedis, and Schioppettino.
As for cultural tourism, there are several museums in the area that belong to the MI SMO TU museum network (which in Slovenian means: we are here).
This initiative, also managed by the Slovenian Cultural Institute, aims to showcase the region and simultaneously enrich its cultural and artistic offerings. Furthermore, we promote and encourage any event, activity, or celebration taking place in our fifteen municipalities, be it an exhibition, a festival, or a traditional event such as Carnival (Pust) or a summer solstice bonfire (Kries).
The last two pillars are related to discovering the nature and morphology of the area. For hiking, there are numerous trails that crisscross the Benečija, as well as countless paths in our mountain ranges.
Let’s not forget that Benečija lies entirely within the Julian Prealps, and that its northernmost municipalities fall within the boundaries of the eponymous Natural Park. In the case of cycling, however, in addition to mountain biking, whose equipped trail areas we’ve explored, road cyclists and cycle tourists can also find their paradise, thanks to a vast network of secondary, quiet roads that offer noteworthy climbs and incredible views of both the sea and the plains, as well as the Alps. One of these is the climb to the Malghe di Porzûs, a key feature of the 2016 Giro d’Italia.
In both cases, we rely on the OutdoorActive platform to report and describe the routes we offer, while for the routes within the Bernadia Trail Area and the Natisone Bike Arena, each of the two managing associations has its own dedicated page on MowiBike.
What is your relationship with local associations, such as Bernadia Trail Area and Natisone Bike Arena, and how important is it?
Maglia Nera APS and ASD Machete Team are the local associations that manage the two largest trail areas in our region. They are essential to us, not only as a direct and concrete expression of what is, on paper, one of our four pillars, but also because their passion and care for the area allow us to introduce those who come to ride to the area to experience local food, wine, and culture. We must not forget, in fact, that those who labor all day on their bikes especially need to replenish all the calories burned, and our tourism coordination program focuses precisely on meeting this need and creating connections between what Benečija has to offer in the four areas we have identified as pillars.
What is the next big challenge for the future?
Together with various partners, such as the Slovenian public body for the promotion of tourism in the neighboring Soča Valley (Zavod Dolina Soče) and others, we are planning the establishment of a Cross-Border Cycling Region that would encompass both their area and Benečija, including at least the Bernadia Trail Area and the Natisone Bike Arena on the Italian side and the existing areas on the Slovenian side. The goal is to present ourselves with a unified name and joint promotion, similar to what happens with Dolomiti Superski and the Finale Outdoor Region. Something similar is already happening at the level of tourist destinations in the Julian Alps. Indeed, the establishment of the Julian Alps Transboundary Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO is encouraging us to present ourselves to the world not as Benečija, Dolina Soče, Bled, Kranjska Gora, etc., but as the Julian Alps. This is what happened, for example, at the World Tourism Market in London in November 2024.
In summary, even looking at the example of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, European Capital of Culture for 2025, it’s clear that our regions can only be attractive and have strong international potential if they are conceived as something cross-border, not only for those who visit them, but also for those who live and work there.
Let’s now pass the floor to the managers of Natisone Bike Arena and Bernadia Trail Area.
When was your association founded and what was its primary objective?
Natisone Bike Arena: The Machete Team was formally founded on November 11, 2019, with the specific aim of regularizing the maintenance work that its founding members had been carrying out for many years on various trails scattered throughout the Natisone Valleys. The association’s primary goal is the restoration of the old historic paths that connected the various villages and the valley floor. For this reason, the trails are left as “natural” as possible, attempting to alter existing tracks as little as possible. The only exceptions are those related to the safety of certain sections and the practices for the creation of “sustainable trails” following the dictates of IMBA Italia, of which we are an active member.
All these activities are made possible thanks to the collaboration and synergy we established right from the start with local institutions: the Natisone and Torre Mountain Community and Municipalities first and foremost, not to mention the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. In spring 2022, the Natisone Bike Arena was unveiled: an important project for the Natisone Valleys, which is further enhancing their enormous potential for all-round cycling and the development of sustainable tourism. Natisone Bike Arena is a registered trademark owned by the Machete Team.
Bernadia Trail Area: The origins of Maglia Nera can be traced back to February 2014, when Stefano Gabaglio and Massimiliano Misdaris, two old friends linked by a passion for outdoor sports, including mountain biking, decided to embark on the adventure of founding an Amateur Sports Association (ASD). These were the years of the transformation of All-Mountain into the competitive discipline called Enduro.
Maglia Nera was born, therefore, to give Friulian mountain bike enthusiasts an additional opportunity to participate in national and international races in an organized manner. Organized, yes, but not overly so, on the contrary. The cornerstones of the “Maglia Nera philosophy” were—and are—the pursuit of fun, the desire to visit new places and new trails with friends. Among the primary objectives were also the valorization of our region and its promotion through tourism. Collaborations with other players in the MTB scene (Jack Bisi with RCM and the then 4Mtbike) gave us the opportunity to raise awareness of our region among enthusiasts.
When did you start working on the trails?
Natisone Bike Arena: Some of our members have been working on trails for over 35 years, practically since mountain bikes appeared on the Italian market. Initially, we focused mainly on preparing trails suitable for racing and training, from XC to DH.
Recently, the approach has changed radically and we have attempted to separate maintenance from a single event, trying to distribute the work across all 365 days of the year.
We believe this aspect is fundamental to providing visitors with a service with high quality standards.
Bernadia Trail Area: Maglia Nera was founded shortly before IMBA Italia, with which we have always been affiliated. In fact, we were among the first in Italy to embrace and support its cause. We can therefore confidently say that we began developing the trails at the same time as our association was founded.
The first major trail building projects were those carried out for the Matadown trail, an international downhill marathon, which we co-organized with Vallimpiadi from 2015 to 2018. At the same time, we maintained the trails in the Gemona del Friuli area prior to the Raida Come Mangi courses, with which we collaborated until 2019 (until the start of the Bernadia Trail Area project). All of these activities were preceded by participation in trail building courses organized by IMBA Italia (TBW). The need to carry out work with knowledge and using the right techniques is always essential!
What is the biggest challenge in managing a trail network?
Natisone Bike Arena: The biggest challenge is definitely keeping all the trails in our area (35 km dedicated to All-Mountain/Enduro and over 200 km of XC/e-bike trails) in good condition and always accessible. In recent years, some extraordinary weather events have put us to the test! Not to be underestimated are all the issues related to relationships with the owners of the forests crossed by the trails and, last but not least, with local institutions.
Bernadia Trail Area: It might be easy to say that the biggest challenge is maintaining the trail network, carrying out all the work that keeps it in order. In reality, the most challenging part of management is consolidating it through the consensus of the local population. The relationship between users and “locals” is delicate, and even small incidents—trail damage or disrespect between different types of users, to name a few—can disrupt this balance.
Often, we MTBers—and trail builders—are still seen as cumbersome and out of place on the trails, or even as detrimental and disrespectful to nature. Seeking agreement, building consensus, and maintaining it are the biggest challenges in managing a trail network. Then comes the actual maintenance and promotion of the area.
What is your greatest satisfaction with the work you do?
Natisone Bike Arena: In our association, we’re all volunteers who give up free time from family and practicing our sport. We’re very happy, and even a little proud, when we see so many “guests” riding our trails, the parking lots full, and the venues crowded.
If we can, we try to get together to see where we can improve. Their enthusiasm, happiness, and satisfaction at the end of the trail certainly repay us for all the effort and hard work we put in.
Bernadia Trail Area: Seeing your maintenance work appreciated by bikers is certainly gratifying. This recognition is usually manifested through the constant presence of enthusiasts, both regular and new, on the trail area’s trails. But even in this case, the importance of local support is evident and fundamental. Without it, none of this would happen, especially in trail areas, where riders ride on shared paths and not in designated areas, as happens in bike parks. Therefore, it’s clear that achieving CONSENSUS is the pinnacle of satisfaction!
What’s your next big challenge for the future of your bike area?
Natisone Bike Arena: For 2025, the biggest challenge for us is certainly the organization of the Italian Enduro Championships, which has been entrusted to us by the Italian Cycling Federation.
The organizational machine has already been in motion for months and, leveraging many years of experience in organizing high-level competitions, we are confident that we can achieve a good result.
There’s a lot of work to do, we’re aware of that, but we’re a close-knit group and that doesn’t scare us.
Of course, we’ll also continue developing the Natisone Bike Arena project, which has a well-defined calendar and several new features for this new season. Follow us on our social media channels so you don’t miss them.
Bernadia Trail Area: The past year has seen us engaged on various fronts – 4Bicycle is one of these (with the Sentieri e Piaceri project, ed.) – to promote our territory and our trail area at a national level.
The challenge, however, doesn’t stop there: the next goal is to expand the visibility of the Bernadia Trail Area internationally, aiming to broaden the visitor base by involving neighboring Austria and Slovenia and, why not, even other Eastern European nations.
In this endeavor, we aim not to operate alone, but to interact with other local stakeholders, both public and private, so that everyone can benefit from the growth opportunities offered by this development.
Info
You can follow the activities of Bernadia Trail Area and Natisone Bike Arena on their respective Instagram profiles
(@maglianera_mgnr and @natisonebikearena) and on the websites:
[foto: Carlo De Santis]
