Built in the old style, with logs and roofing shingles, the inn has a beautiful traditional stube (parlour) but also a spacious terrace and outdoor seating area.
Sesselschwaige Alpine Inn is open daily May 26 through September 17, 2023!
The Sesselschwaige offers its guests 8 places in the dormitory for overnight stays.
Originally, the little cottage was located further up the valley. It was built in 1927 and included a little stable for those calves that couldn't yet make the longer journey up to the summit plateau. On January 31 1986, a massive avalanche destroyed the entire structure. The only thing that remained intact was a wooden way side cross, its position seemed favorable was picked as the location of the new alpine hut that was inaugurated in July 1988.
In summer, around 400 head of livestock, mostly beef and cows but also sheep and a few horses, are being taken up to the grazing grounds up on the Sciliar's slopes. The annual cattle drive is a big event and popular with tourists. Sesselschwaige is inhabited by cows, goats, a dog, cats and rabbits. Chances aren't too bad that you will also get to see an occasional deer, while chamoises in summer are rarely seen since they prefer to retreat to remote areas and higher altitudes.
It is impossible to extricate the practice of seasonal mountain pasturing and the existence of alpine dairies from the cultural history of the Alps. Evidence exists that dates management of mountain pastures in the Alps back to the second millennium B.C. Alpine dairymen have been practising seasonal pasturing in its present-day form for almost 2,000 years. Necessity gave birth to a seasonal transition up to high-altitude pastures: grazing opportunities in the dangerous marshy lowlands and flood-prone valleys were limited. Today, seasonal mountain pasturing has a marked relevance for the maintenance and conservation of the traditional Alpine cultural landscape.
