The location of an Italian mountain lodge is in question because the border between Switzerland and Italy has moved high in the snowy Alps as a result of a glacier melting. The borderline follows a drainage divide, which is where meltwater will diverge to flow either down one side of the mountain or the other.
The Rifugio Guide del Cervino, a guest shelter next to the 3,480-meter Testa Grigia peak, has been creeping towards the watershed as a result of the Theodul Glacier's retreat, and it is now gradually sweeping underneath the structure.
A 59-year-old traveler named Frederic unlocks the restaurant's small wooden door as the outside light pours in. The menu is in Italian rather than German, and the prices are in euros rather than Swiss francs. Nonetheless, he orders a slice of pie and inquires, "So, are we in Switzerland or Italy?"
It's an important question to ask because it was the subject of diplomatic negotiations that began in 2018 and ended with a compromise last year - but the details are still unknown.
The refuge's 40 beds and long wooden tables were totally within Italian territory when it was constructed there on a rocky outcrop in 1984. However, the majority of the hotel's beds and restaurant, along with two-thirds of the overall structure, are now situated in southern Switzerland.
The neighborhood, which depends on tourism, is at the top of one of the biggest ski resorts in the world, and a significant new development that includes a cable car station is being built a few meters away has brought the matter to light.
A deal was reached in Florence in November 2021, but it won't be publicized until it has been approved by the Swiss government, which won't happen until 2023.
"We agreed to split the difference," Alain Wicht, chief border official at Switzerland's national mapping agency Swisstopo told AFP. His duties include maintaining the 7,000 boundary markers that line the 1,935 km border between landlocked Switzerland and Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Liechtenstein.
The verdict is yet unknown, but the refuge's 51-year-old caretaker Lucio Trucco has been informed that it will remain on the Italian land. The years of negotiations have prevented the communities on either side of the border from issuing a building permit, which has caused a delay in the rebuilding of the shelter.
Because of this, the construction won't be finished in time for the late 2023 opening of a new cable car up the Italian side of the Klein Matterhorn peak. The only way to the slopes is from Zermatt, a ski resort in Switzerland.
