Built with
enthusiasm, run with tender loving care - The best aspects of
tradition
| 1952 |
Siegfried
Villgrater, who would later become the host of the Talschlusshütte,
the Fondovalle Refuge, learned to love this area when he worked as
a young shepherd in the Fiscalina Valley. |
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| 1953 |
May: a small
“refreshment point” is built where the Fondovalle Refuge now
stands. In the autumn of the same year the dormitory and kitchen
are also added. |
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| 1954 |
The technical
report on the “refreshment point” emphasizes the exemplary toilet:
it is built 10 meters from the main structure and made entirely of
wood. |
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| 1958 |
Anton and Siegfried
Villgrater file a petition to obtain private ownership, and become
the owners of the “refreshment point”. Their first initiative is
to install a drinking water piping system. By hand, they dig a
trench from a spring to the building, a distance of 300 meters. |
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| 1959 |
They submit new
projects to the local Environmental Protection Commission: a
storeroom is added to the existing outdoor toilet. |
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| 1960 |
Rosa, who is not a
Villgrater yet, comes to work in the Fiscalina Valley. |
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| 1961 |
Siegfried
Villgrater and Rosa get married. |
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| 1962 |
Birth of Herbert,
the first of four children and current owner of the Fondovalle
Refuge. |
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| 1963 |
The business grows
rapidly. Towards the end of the sixties it is so well established
that almost 200 cars can be seen in the parking lot at one time. |
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| 1971 |
Val Fiscalina is
closed to traffic, campgrounds and tents are forbidden.
Unfortunately, what is beneficial to nature is often detrimental
to human activities: at first the local people, used to reaching
the Fondovalle Refuge by car, stop coming here. |
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| 1974 |
Siegfried
Villgrater purchases 608 m² of land for the then considerable
amount of 3,040,000 Lire. The purchase is followed by a long
bureaucratic ordeal to obtain the permit to enlarge the old
Refuge. Success is only achieved after years of struggle and piles
of paperwork. |
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| 1977 |
Inauguration of the
new Fondovalle Refuge, but Siegfried Villgrater, the owner, is not
completely satisfied. The many regulations and strictures imposed
by the authorities have not allowed the project to be accomplished
in the most satisfactory manner. |
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| 1983 |
The Sexten
Dolomites Natural Park is established. |
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| 1984 |
The licence to run
the Fondovalle Refuge is revoked. |
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| 1985 |
The former Refuge
is transformed into a family run hotel. |
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| 1993 |
The hotel is
equipped with a telephone line and sewer; the generating set,
which is not ecological, is replaced with a power line from the
town. |
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| 1995 |
Siegfried
Villgrater, long-time manager of the Fondovalle Refuge, dies. |
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| 1996 |
Plans to enlarge
the Fondovalle Refuge, which take a year to define, are eventually
drawn up, and the sophisticated project is approved quickly and
without a hitch by the Sexten Building Commission. But the work,
scheduled to begin in the spring of 1998, is delayed by legal
problems and bureaucratic red tape and will not start for another
four years. |
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| 1998 |
Marriage of Herbert
Villgrater and Maria, waitress at the Fondovalle Refuge since
1986. Two children are born, Armin and Julia. |
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| 2002 |
The preparations
for the long-wished for redevelopment are completed; meantime, the
spring water supply system is upgraded to meet modern standards. |
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| 2003 |
On March 17, the
old Fondovalle Refuge is demolished. The expertise of architect
Bernhard Lösch and the excellent coordination of the Unionbau firm
that supervises the construction enable the work to proceed
speedily and without a hitch: after only three months, on June 23,
the new Fondovalle Refuge is inaugurated. The event is duly
celebrated on October 12, with the inauguration ceremony and the
celebration of the 50th anniversary of an inn that meantime has
become an integral part of the Piano Fiscalino. |
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Illustrious guests - from the Fondovalle Refuge guest book:
Luis Trenker, Reinhold Messner, Hans Kammerlander, Christoph Hainz,
Franz Klammer, Paul Breitner, Cardinal König, Silvius Magnago, former
Head of the Provincial Government, Giulio Andreotti ... |