A melting glacier in the Alps has shifted the border between Switzerland and Italy, making the location of an Italian mountain lodge controversial.
The boundary line between the two countries runs along a drainage area, the point at which meltwater will flow from either side of the mountain to one country or the other. But the Theodul Glacier’s retreat means the basin glides towards the Rifugio Guide del Cervino, a visitor sanctuary near the 3,480-metre peak of Testa Grigia, and is slowly sweeping under the building.
When the bunker was built on a rocky hill in 1984, its 40 beds and long wooden tables were entirely on Italian soil. But now, two-thirds of the cottage, including most of the beds and the restaurant, is technically located in southern Switzerland.
The subject came to the fore with an important new development, such as the tourism-based region being located on top of one of the world’s largest ski resorts and the construction of a cable car station a few meters away. It is known that an agreement was signed in Florence in November 2021, but the result will be announced only after approval by the Swiss government and will not happen before 2023.
The job of Alain Wicht, chief border officer of Switzerland’s national mapping agency Swisstopo, includes looking for 7,000 border markers on the landlocked Switzerland’s 1,935km border with Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein. Wicht participated in negotiations where both sides made concessions to find a solution. Both sides suffice to say that even if there is no winner, at least an outcome in which no one loses is agreed upon.
Where the Italian-Swiss border crosses the Alpine glaciers, the border follows the watershed line. But the Theodul Glacier lost almost a quarter of its mass between 1973 and 2010. This changed the drainage section by exposing the rock below to ice, forcing the two neighbors to redraw a 100-metre-long section of their boundary. Such adjustments are often made, Wicht said, and are often resolved by comparing the readings of pollsters from border countries without involving politicians. Italian colleagues declined to comment “due to the complex international situation”.
Jean-Philippe Amstein, a former Swisstopo chief, says such disputes are typically resolved by exchanging parcels of equivalent surface area and value. In this case, he says, “Switzerland is not interested in acquiring a glacier,” and continues, “Italians cannot compensate for the loss of Swiss surface area.”
While the result remains secret, the bunker’s keeper, Lucio Trucco, 51, was told he would remain on Italian soil. “The haven remains Italian because we have always been Italian,” Trucco said in a statement.
For now, on Swissstopo’s maps, the solid pink stripe of the Swiss border appears as a dashed line as it passes through the bunker.
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