A few kilometers east of Trento, on the outskirts of the town of Pergine, a vale opens up like a fan: the "Valle dei Mocheni". The valley, surrounded by the westernmost peaks of the Lagorai group, is the cradle of a German-speaking community of medieval origin. This spot, which the local tourist office describes as 'enchanted', is the setting for Robert Musil's novella 'Grigia', a short story conjured up by the Austrian writer during the months spent in Valsugana as a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army (1915), and finally published in 1921. At the center of the tale is the experience of self-dissolution of Homo, the enigmatic protagonist of the story, which takes place in an eerily resonant natural and human context. In my paper, I will make use of some themes that emerge asystematically from Musil's short story: the ambivalent character of the mountain enchantment; the transformative power of the uplands; the conflict between modern activism and the dogged passivity of mountain people; the experience of helplessness and its consequences for personal identity; more generally, the struggle to fully come to terms with the alienness of the mountain mode of life and landscape. My aim is to investigate contemporary varieties of secular spirituality that are linked to alpine environments and to see why elements that in Musil are surrounded by an aura of decadence and metaphysical disquiet reappear today in an opposite light of rebirth and re-enchantment. To this end, I will focus in particular on some uses of mountain therapy to treat psychological and existential disorders.