The Masche belong to that part of the Bormida Valley that cannot be quickly explained. They are present in the stories told on the farms, in the woods crossed at sunset, in the words passed down more by word of mouth than by page. They are not just figures of fear. In the analysis of the territory, they appear within a very specific axis, one that unites memory, spirituality, and popular culture , and which distinguishes this valley from a more predictable and purely food and wine narrative.
The Masche don't just bring mystery.
They bring a local form of knowledge, fear and imagination.
In Piedmontese tradition, particularly in the Langhe region, the term refers to the witches of folk tales. But to reduce them to that would be an understatement. According to a still widespread folkloric interpretation, the Masca is an ambiguous figure: a common woman by day, a presence capable of metamorphosis by night, linked to tales of animals, spells, and the minor upheavals of daily life. This is precisely why the stories of Masche have endured for so long: because they belong not only to the fantastic, but to the ancient need to give a name to what frightens, eludes, and cannot be controlled.
Alongside fear, however, there is another level. In a more recent reinterpretation of the tradition, the Masca is not only a dark presence, but also a repository of knowledge . Herbs, ointments, remedies, gestures, sounds, oral formulas. A marginal, often feminine, heritage, left on the fringes of official culture and therefore more difficult to tame. In this passage, the story changes tone. The legend is no longer just about superstition. It also speaks of the body, of nature, of peasant knowledge, of a direct relationship with the landscape.
It is here that the Bormida Valley finds its precise dimension. In the site's architectural document, the Masche are listed among the traditions to be promoted, along with pallapugno, while the strategic analysis places them among the expressions of a more intimate, silent, spiritual, and literary identity. Not as flaunted folklore, then, but rather as a profound narrative that continues to shape the region's imagery.
Even today, this presence resurfaces. In Gorzegno, for example, the Gorzegno Magica festival dedicates the village to the world of magic and tarot cards every year, drawing thousands of people to the old town and bringing back to the forefront that mystical dimension that the landscape still preserves. It's an interesting sign. The Masche aren't stuck in the past. They change their language, but they continue to speak.
