What's better, in the summer of Covid, than a hike in the mountains, perhaps taking advantage of it to enrich yourself culturally? From Saturday 1st August and for every Saturday until 26th September, this will be possible in the mountains of Trentino. The initiative is called its own “Cultural Saturdays in refuges” and is organized by SAT, the Society of Tridentine Mountaineers. An unmissable appointment, born from the need to favor open spaces to avoid gatherings and consequently health safety proof, given that in some cases these are places that are difficult to reach, so it will not be easy to find so many people there.
This is the case, for example, of the first appointment on the calendar, that of Saturday 1st August: you immediately climb very high, in the "Mantova" refuge on Monte Vioz, which with its 3.600 meters is the highest refuge in the Eastern Alps. In addition to suggestion of the splendid panorama of the Dolomites, that place also has a historical and cultural value. In fact, not very far from the refuge is the museum (the highest in Europe, ça va sans dire). Punta Linke, a former outpost of the First World War (used by the Austro-Hungarian troops) to discover which visitors will be guided by Cristina Bassi, archaeologist of the Superintendency for Cultural Heritage of the Autonomous Province of Trento.
Saturday 8 August is instead the turn of the Stavel refuge – “F. Denza”, where Marco Gramola, member of the Cultural History Commission, will hold a conference entitled “The Great War in the Presanella Group”. Exceptional appointment on August 15th at the refuge "ai Caduti dell'Adamello", at the Lobbies, with the meeting entitled "The glaciers tell of climate, wars and changing mountains": Cristian Casarotto, climatologist at Muse, will continue to speak with Marco Gramola.
History is also the protagonist of the meeting on Saturday 22 August at the Mandrone refuge "Citta di Trento", with Diego Leoni and the splendid and many times awarded volume entitled "La Guerra Verticale". We will also talk about wars on 5 September with the conference entitled "Caré Alto and the Great War", again curated by Marco Gramola at the Carè Alto refuge - "D. Ongari". But first, Saturday 29 August, there is a small unscheduled event: that day will not be the turn of a shelter but of the building of the Mines of Fiera di Primiero, where Ezio Amistadi, president of the Museum of Uses and Customs of the Trentino People holds the conference entitled "Territory: care or possession, from the ethics of principles to the ethics of responsibility".
On 12 September Dr Marta Bazzanella, from the Museum of Uses and Customs of the Trentino People, will present "The writings of the shepherds" in Ziano di Fiemme. Marco Pisoni's book "The evening falls without noise" will instead be the protagonist on Saturday 19 September at the San Pietro refuge. Grand finale on September 26th with the volume "The huts and bivouacs of Trentino - mountaineering excursions, via ferrata walks" by the mountaineer Luciano Navarini, who will present his editorial work at the Bindesi refuge. – “P. Prati”.
"It won't be an easy summer for the shelters and these initiatives will offer an extra motivation to mountain enthusiasts to combine a beautiful excursion with an opportunity for cultural study", commented Armando Tomasi, president of the Historical Cultural Library Commission. “Writers, historians, archaeologists, climatologists have welcomed SAT's invitation to participate in this project with great willingness, which aims to be a sort of prudent but convinced return to relationships, meetings, cultural exchanges, indispensable customs for a community".
To guarantee greater safety in these events, but in general in the attendance of refuges, the CAI - Italian Alpine Club has prepared an anti-Covid kit that is distributed in all SAT shelters. The equipment consists of a thermal scanner for measuring the temperature, display panels that SAT has also had translated into German and English, a pulse oximeter to evaluate the oxygen saturation of the hemoglobin present in peripheral arterial blood, masks with filters to be replaced and finally an ozonator.
