The managers of the alpine refuges in the Unesco area are increasingly ambassadors of the values of the Dolomites, a World Heritage Site. Therefore testimonial of sustainability, sobriety and in particular of the renunciation of certain comforts, as an integral part of an authentic mountain experience. In other words, the alpine refuge will remain a refuge, it will not be transformed into a hotel, much less into a spa.
This is what the more than thirty refuge managers agreed, more than half of those operating in the core area of the Unesco Site, who participated in the sixth annual meeting of the network of refuge managers in the Dolomites World Heritage, organized by the Unesco Dolomites Foundation and hosted this year by the View Center of the Fanes-Senes-Braies Natural Park in San Vigilio di Marebbe. Among them also Giuseppe Monti, of the Rifugio Carducci, above Auronzo, who declared himself fully satisfied with the conclusions of the comparison. Also because – he specified – the managers of the alpine refuges are confirmed as a big family.
Among the many topics on the agenda is also the project of the Network of high-quality producers and products of the world heritage by the Network of landscape heritage and protected areas of the Foundation, with the intervention of the consultant from Belluno, Irma Visalli.
“It was a demanding summer season for the managers, above all due to the scarcity of water and, in some areas, the high attendance”, acknowledged the director of the Unesco Dolomites Foundation Mara Nemela. «The annual meeting is an important opportunity to take stock of the situation, consolidate the relationship between managers and the Unesco Dolomites Foundation and between managers. As always, there was a strong will to spend on concrete projects that confirm the will of the managers to be ambassadors of World Heritage».
Among other things, the director Nemela has been bringing forward a topic that is causing discussion in her speeches for a few weeks. «Paths must not turn into roads», is the recommendation that you repeated during the Dolomiti Mountain School review. «I am happy that a moment of discussion can be established around such a delicate topic», the director insists, «which concerns the entire Unesco heritage and beyond. On the one hand, the mountain is for everyone but it can’t be too many, so the paths shouldn’t turn into roads. On the other hand, however, the path network cannot be left at the mercy of nature: the best ways to manage it must be identified, because doing it carefully means having a positive impact on the tourist quality of the localities”.
For the first time in human history, in fact, instead of continuing to grow, the trails are dying out. The reasons? The depopulation of the mountains, the use of cars, the lack of maintenance and climate change».