Cimbrian
The Cimbrian language belongs to the Southern Bavarian group. The first settlements of Germanic origin in the Cimbrian area, located between Veneto and Trentino, can be traced back to the eleventh century. Until the nineteenth century, Cimbrian was spoken by residents of the 13 municipalities in the province of Verona, the 7 municipalities of the Asiago Plateau in the province of Vicenza, and the inhabitants of the Folgaria plateau.
In the present day, Cimbrian is only spoken in Luserna/Lusérn, located in the province of Trento. Cimbrian, spoken by just a few hundred of speakers, demonstrates a combination of conservative and innovative features, only to some extent attributable to the exposure to surrounding Romance languages. The Cimbrian Cultural Institute has been initiated a multitude of activities to support the language and local culture.
Mòcheno
The Mòcheno language, a Germanic variety belonging to the group of Southern Bavarian dialects, is spoken in the Fersina Valley of Trentino, situated about 30 kilometers east of the city of Trento. The valley’s earliest settlers, originating from Tyrol and surrounding areas, came in the thirteenth century to cultivate unclaimed lands and work in the local mines.
Today, Mòcheno is spoken in the three municipalities of Palù del Fersina (Palai en Bersntol), Fierozzo (Vlarotz), and Frassilongo/Roveda (Garait/Oachlait).
In 2003, the Mòcheno Cultural Institute (Bersntoler Kulturinstitut, BKI) took steps to encourage the written use of the minority language by publishing a normative grammar featuring a proposed orthography (Rowley 2003, drawing on Rowley 1986, 2010). The institute is actively engaged in further activities and initiatives to preserve and foster the local language, such as the edition of a dictionary and creating a standardized orthography for toponyms in Mòcheno.
Dolomitic Ladin
Dolomitic Ladin is a group of Rhaeto-Romance varieties with several conservative features, spoken in five alpine valleys around the Sella massif in the Dolomites: val Gardena/ Gherdëina and Val Badia in the province of Bolzano/Bozen, Val di Fassa/Fascia in the province of Trento, and Livinallongo/Fodom, Colle Santa Lucia/Col, and Ampezzo/Anpezo in the province of Belluno.
Certain Ladin varieties also show internal differentiation: in Val Badia badiot is spoken in the upper part of the valley badiot de mesaval in the lower part, and mareo in the adjacent valley of Mareo/Marebbe; in Val di Fassa, there are three varieties: cazet in the upper part of the valley, brach in the central part, and moenat in Moena. The three cultural institutes located in the Dolomitic Ladin area have undertaken numerous activities to promote the local languages and cultures.
