Those refuges between sky and mountains, guardians of history and legendary adventures

Of the thousand Alpine refuges in Italy, over fifteen are in the Western Alps. The first was near Lake Alpetto, in the upper Po valley: not dissimilar to the stone houses of shepherds in the mountain pastures. Each refuge has its own history, boasts mountaineering adventures and legendary managers. Built by generous hands, they are mostly severe, poor, essential architecture; others appear sensitive to the dictates of modern architecture, such as the Rifugio Vallanta, in the upper Varaita valley, by architects Giuseppe Bellezza and Maurizio Momo.

Today at 5.30 pm at Villa Tornaforte-Aragno, as part of the Spring meetings dedicated to the Mountains, Jacques-Felix Faure, architect of the Mountain Architecture Atelier and «maitre-assistant» in the architecture and landscape research at the National School of Architecture of Grenoble (Ensag).

Faure conceived, conceived, designed and partly built with his own hands the Nouvelle Cabane de l’Aigle, in the heart of the Parc des Écrins, in the Hautes Alpes, 50 km from Briançon, in the municipality of La Grave. The refuge, at 3450 meters above sea level, replaces an old refuge from the early twentieth century; it rests on the Bec de l’Aigle and is a base for mountaineers who wish to reach Meije (3984 m., the summit of the Massif des Écrins). Its construction – a true Alpine fairy tale – is an example of decades-long dialogue with the mountaineering population, with a close comparison between those in favor and against, and involved reflections on environmental compatibility, on materials, on the preservation of memories, in the spiritual dimension of the landscape between mountain and sky.