About us 

The stream of tourists who, from Misurina, either on foot or using the dedicated Jeep shuttle service, ascend along the five kilometers of road that separate it from the summit of Monte Piana, end their journey (at an altitude of 2,205 meters above sea level) facing the refuge maggiore Angelo Bosi on Monte Piana. While the appearances on the scene of the boundary markers, the Wettershutzhütte, the Carducci Pyramid, and the homonymous hut had no connection with the military events that took place on the mountain, the same cannot be said for the appearance of the Bosi refuge. It came into being as a sort of unusual commemorative marker, of particular craftsmanship and function, where the memory could not be entrusted only to a conglomerate of stones or a plaque, but rather, that memory wanted above all to be living and relational. In short, it was born as a support point for those who, from the end of the war and for many years thereafter, returned there on pilgrimage to mourn and remember their fallen comrades or, as veterans, to thank fate or divine grace for still being among the living. It was in this spirit that Agostino Martinelli, a captain of the Alpini who fought on the Piana, shortly after the end of the war, set up a modest shack made of salvaged materials where the first pilgrims and tourists could find shelter and refreshment. He erected it on the square opposite the ruined barracks that during the conflict housed the Italian battalion command, at the end of the military road that from Misurina climbed up to the command post. An initial route of the road was designed and built on commission in 1905 by the Monti company of Auronzo di Cadore, later widened and turned into a proper road by the Military Engineering Corps in 1915. This “makeshift” solution lasted until 1929, the year in which Martinelli decided to start building a new structure from scratch, aware that besides the initial needs related to the “pilgrimages” of the families of the fallen and veterans, other more strictly touristic needs had meanwhile arisen. Indeed, tourism gradually began to develop at an increasingly steady pace as the wounds caused by the war healed, driven both by the presence of the Dolomites Railway “Calalzo-Cortina-Dobbiaco” (inaugurated on June 16, 1920, and electrified in 1929) and by the development of motor vehicle traffic increasingly using the valley floor roads. Once the building was completed, the Rifugio Maggiore Angelo Bosi was inaugurated on June 29, 1931, during a pilgrimage of veterans from the 55th regiment on Monte Piana. Throughout the 1930s, it witnessed a flourishing of initiatives that confirmed its importance in the tourism sector. For example, a fixed link with Misurina at the Sorapiss Hotel via radiotelephone was activated on February 22, 1936, together with the Principe Umberto refuge (now Auronzo refuge), the first of its kind in the Eastern Dolomites. In 1936, Martinelli printed brochures which he distributed throughout the German railway network; for the summer, the attraction was the widest and most interesting battlefield in the Dolomites, while in winter, the focus was on sports and the unparalleled snowfields the area offers. Beyond the fields, ideal for beginners, the refuge management also offered biweekly ski courses from December to May promoted by the RODOLFO ROTHER organization of Munich. Then another war came, whose echoes, this time, sounded far from Monte Piana; this did not prevent the German Wehrmacht, on March 8, 1943, from renting the refuge and setting up an air control post there. Peace returned and in the early 1950s the structure was bought by Giuseppe and Lino Coin from Mirano (Venice), who, however, did nothing with it. Here come into play the figures of Giovanni De Francesch and Argia Mazzorana. The two married in 1953 and, while Giovanni worked as the chief carpenter, Argia was employed at the Auronzo refuge, at the foot of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, then managed by her cousin Pietro Mazzorana, where she worked from May until All Saints’ Day in November. In 1959, Giovanni also found employment at the Auronzo refuge as a handyman and together with his wife developed the idea of trying to keep the Auronzo open during the winter. They spoke to Pietro Mazzorana, who gladly allowed them to use the refuge for that period. This management experiment continued for another two years during which Giovanni, in his free time from Auronzo, watched through binoculars that building on Monte Piana, sadly closed and left to itself. Then someone told him that the building was for sale: he spoke with Argia and, in the spring of 1962, hurried to buy it (along with the Capanna Carducci), without even having seen it up close. The building was in a state of severe decay but they were young and undeterred, and began the first restorations so that by that summer they were able to properly welcome the first tourists. The restoration work continued over the following years but they increasingly realized the need for a definitive leap in quality. This happened in 1969 when they decided to demolish the main old refuge and build the current structure, completing it by early November after 40 days of absolutely providential good weather. In 1973, the President of the Republic Giovanni Leone awarded Giovanni De Francesch the honor of Knight of the Republic, recognizing his moral integrity and hard work. However, Giovanni died in 1986 and Argia continued to run the refuge until 1993 when their son Mauro took over, the current owner of the property and manager of the business together with his wife Lucia Nicolai. If the Piana had already enchanted Giovanni and Argia, who decided to live there year-round and manage the refuge, Mauro and Lucia must have been equally captivated as they continue to live there today with their two daughters, day by day, all year round.

(*) June 28, 1931 fell on a Sunday, so the 29th could only have been a Monday; Albino Capretta, in the book Monte Piana (p. 67), states that the inauguration took place on the 29th, while the caption of the photo shows the date 28, clarifying, as a fact, that it was a Sunday. On p. 72 the author also reports an excerpt from an article published on the front page of the Corriere di Napoli on June 4, 1931, presumably from documents kept at the War Museum of the refuge, which says that veterans of the 55th infantry... on June 28 and 29 will make a pious pilgrimage to Monte Piana to inaugurate the refuge... .

**Translation produced with the help of translation tools and manually reviewed