“The rewards I receive from Mother Earth repay me every single day for all the sacrifices I make in my hard work as a Mountain Farmer.”
Today we have the pleasure of interviewing Luigi Faleschini, also known as Gigi Verdura, a true hero of the land who has been creating outstanding products in the Friulian Alps for over 40 years.
Filippo @Viveur:
Hi Luigi, welcome. Your story fascinates us and we’re happy to have you here at Viveur. Before we talk about your life as a Mountain Farmer, let’s start from the beginning. Who is Luigi Faleschini, and how did the nickname Gigi Verdura come about?
Gigi:
I’m Luigi Faleschini, but all my friends call me Gigi Verdura. I left my hometown, the big city of Milan, to return to my roots in Pontebba and become a Mountain Farmer. My origins are Friulian: my mother was from Tarcento, my father from Pontebba — where I now live — and my grandparents from Gorizia. So I felt a strong call back to the land, to my homeland.
From a big city like Milan, I moved to a small mountain village. But for me it was an immense enrichment, because in the city my nature and my character didn’t allow me to fully express myself.
Here in the mountains, in direct contact with the land and with nature, I can express what I truly feel inside. And in 35 years of work I have managed to achieve small things… but things of great value.
Filippo @Viveur:
I see that your Friulian roots are deep, and these places are in your DNA. Was there a specific moment when you realized nature was calling you?
Gigi:
I studied agriculture in Milan, but as soon as I finished my studies, I immediately felt the urge to escape the city.
Already as a child, in the tiny garden behind our apartment building — maybe 20 square meters — I would cultivate a little vegetable patch. The neighbors would say, “You’re crazy! In a city like Milan, full of smog and pollution, what are you doing?” And I would say, “I’m growing vegetables!”
The passion was already there: planting vegetables, watching them grow, waiting for them to ripen, and then harvesting the fruits Mother Earth gave me. That’s how it all began, with passion, when I was about 8–10 years old. My studies later gave me the technical and theoretical foundation to face the practical work.
Filippo @Viveur:
So the passion for the land was already there when you were young. But moving to the mountains and changing your life completely is a big step. Tell us how that happened.
Gigi:
When I arrived here in Pontebba in the 1990s, in my father’s old house, everything had to be renovated. I had nothing, only the house itself.
I started looking around, trying to convince the local mountain folk — who didn’t know me at all — to rent me a small piece of land so I could start my farming activity. It took me three years, but in the end I succeeded. I found a plot in Malborghetto, which is still the home of my farm today: a beautiful piece of land facing north, under the Monte Due Pizzi in the Julian Alps. And there, in those clearings, I began to cultivate.
Filippo @Viveur:
Before we talk about your products, could you tell us a bit about the wonderful region we’re in — Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Alps?
Gigi:
I’ve been living here for 40 years. We are in Valcanale, in the province of Udine. I live in a small mountain village, about 700 meters above sea level, in one of the most beautiful places in Italy: between the Carnic and Julian Alps. We’re in a land of three borders — Austria, Italy, and Slovenia.
I love the mountains. Where I live, here in Valcanale, in the Canale del Ferro, nature is still wild. We live in an unspoiled environment — pure essence. It’s an area rich in water, vegetation, forests, clearings, and wildlife.
We truly live in a pristine place, where the pressure of tourism is still very limited.
Filippo @Viveur:
Let’s go back to the land you fought so hard for. What do you grow there?
Gigi:
My crops are mainly spring and summer vegetables — tomatoes, peppers, eggplants — which we grow in unheated tunnels.
In open fields we cultivate typical mountain vegetables like radicchio, beans, potatoes, cabbages, and other varieties native to the area.
Over the years, we also started planting small fruits like raspberries, blackberries, currants, and old local apple varieties. For us, the most important principle is preserving biodiversity and safeguarding it within our territory.
From these small plots we get delicious, very fresh vegetables — products that our clients appreciate so much that they often come directly to the farm to buy them, embracing the concept of zero-kilometer food.
Filippo @Viveur:
Fantastic, truly impressive. Moving from cultivation to transformation seems natural — what pushed you to take that step?
Gigi:
In 2000, about 25 years ago, I decided to combine my passion for cooking with my farming and started transforming vegetables and fresh fruit into preserves.
So, in what was once an old shipping office, I set up a small artisanal food workshop, where everything is done by hand. For us, manual work is the most important value we have.
Here, following old traditions and recipes recovered from the valley’s farmers, we make a variety of products: pickled vegetables, sweet-and-sour preserves, excellent jams, and over time we added vegetable creams to accompany cheeses, season pasta, or spread on crostini.
All of them are organic — my farm has been certified organic since the early 1990s.
Filippo @Viveur:
I know your portfolio includes many products. Is there one you love the most — the most special to you?
Gigi:
In my small workshop in Pontebba, I also started a line of excellence products. Why “excellence”? Because they are made with wild herbs, collected spontaneously.
Perhaps the most precious one, which I’d compare to the truffle of the high mountains, is radicchio di montagna(mountain radicchio). Locally it’s also called “bear’s radicchio” or “ice radicchio,” because it grows at high altitudes, on north-facing ridges where snow lingers late into the season.
At the end of May or beginning of June, with great effort, we climb steep gullies among the alders to gather this rare plant. It only grows in certain places, it’s protected by regional law, and each collector can only pick one kilo per day.
The harvest lasts just about two weeks. Then, back at the workshop, each tender sprout is cleaned one by one with a small knife or peeler, removing all the earthy residues. From a kilo of fresh radicchio, we get only 300–400 grams of finished product ready for transformation.
The result is organoleptically exceptional — it carries all the aromas of mountain meadows during haymaking. Slightly bitter, very herbal, and preserved either in top-quality Friulian extra virgin olive oil or in a carefully prepared sweet-and-sour brine. With a plate of cured meats and cheeses, it’s the star of the table.
But production is tiny — maybe a hundred jars a year — so they’re destined for very demanding palates, true connoisseurs.
Filippo @Viveur:
The Radic de Mont is truly a wonder. That said, we know mountain life is tough — what challenges you the most in daily life?
Gigi:
I never imagined working in the mountains could be so demanding. For us, farming here is like being on the front line of resistance — it’s a constant battle.
We fight against time and weather: short seasons, late frosts, early frosts, hailstorms, lack of water to irrigate our fields. It sounds strange — we’re in the mountains and yet we don’t have the irrigation systems you find in the plains.
And then the remoteness: if even a small screw or gasket breaks, we may have to drive 100 kilometers to the nearest town with a supply shop. That means hours of lost work for something minor. Nothing is easy here — and in agriculture, it’s even harder.
Filippo @Viveur:
Very insightful — people often don’t realize what it takes. Before we say goodbye, what final thought would you like to share with our readers?
Gigi:
I’d like to dedicate a few lines I wrote to all the friends and lovers of our mountains:
The satisfaction I receive from Mother Earth repays me for the daily sacrifices I face in my hard work as a mountain farmer. The fruits and vegetables that nature gives me in the brief summer season, I try with passion to transform into small treasures — creations where colors, aromas, and flavors express my thoughts, in harmony with everything that surrounds me and in continuous evolution.
Filippo @Viveur:
Thank you, Gigi. It’s been a true pleasure spending these days together — you are truly remarkable.
Gigi:
Thank you, Filippo, for sharing my story. It was a great pleasure to be with you, and a special thanks to all.
