Whether it’s called Camporosso (Italian), Zabnice (Slovene), Saifnitz (German), or Cjamparòs (Friulian), the feast of the patron saint, St. Giles, is the annual event for which the small community of Camporosso (Tarvisio, Udine) and its 800 inhabitants halt all other activity. The celebration draws attendees from various towns in the Val Canale valley and, of course, from across the nearby Austrian border.
The centerpiece is a procession of locals—young and old, men and women—in traditional dress. The men wear a distinctive vest with only the first eleven of its twelve buttons fastened. “The buttons represented the lands of Austria; the bottom one, left open, is for Upper Carinthia, which Vienna lost after the First World War,” explains Maurizio Lattisi, president of the Vicinia Agrarian Consortium of Camporosso.
For over a century, the parade has followed the same route through the town center, pausing for refreshments of white wine and food. It proceeds to the 15th-century church for a mass and then halts beneath a large linden tree, deemed the “Tree of Life” and considered sacred by Slovene tradition. Here, the men sing a traditional song in the area’s four languages: Italian, Slovene, German, and Friulian.
This is also the moment for the *Konta*, the culminating event of the Slovene *Zegen* festival, where village youth who have come of age are officially welcomed into the community—a rite they have prepared for since childhood.
The procession then resumes, eventually dissolving into a festival (with continued singing) where hecatres of beer flow alongside plates of Wienerschnitzel, *frico* (a Friulian cheese dish), french fries, and potato salad.
Among the participants is Emily Menguzzato, who wears a heavy dress that is perhaps the oldest in all of Camporosso. Inherited from her great-great-great-grandmother, it was sewn around 1790 and has been meticulously preserved by the family ever since.