The enchantment of the refuge, 2000 meters above human things

Lecture-performance by Luca Gibello. The history, symbols, geography, sociality, and architecture of mountain refuges in an extraordinary cavalcade of images, words, quotes, and music, divided into three themes: protection, hospitality, and forms.

Alpine refuges have a fairly recent history (less than two hundred years), originally linked to scientific knowledge of the mountains and then to mountaineering in the forms we know today.

They represent a significant cultural heritage that must be preserved and enhanced, as well as a unique model of hospitality, unmatched by other forms of tourist accommodation; a model marked by frugality and sobriety, which requires a spirit of adaptation and teaches a sense of limits, thanks also to the charismatic figure of the refuge manager.

Luca Gibello, an architectural historian and journalist, directed Il Giornale dell'Architettura.com from 2015 to 2024. He collaborates with the Trentino Mountain Academy. In 2012, he founded the cultural association Cantieri d'alta quota, with the aim of spreading knowledge about the history and current situation of Alpine refuges and bivouacs. Since 2023, he has edited the column "Abitare il paesaggio" (Living in the Landscape) for the "Rivista del Club Alpino Italiano," dedicated to architecture and settlements in Italy's mountains. A passionate hiker and mountaineer, he has climbed all 82 four-thousanders in the Alps and over 225 peaks above 3,000 meters.

His books include: High-Altitude Construction Sites. A Brief History of Alpine Hut Construction (2011), Taking Refuge Among the Peaks. Huts and Bivouacs in the Aosta Valley from the Pioneers of Mountaineering to Today (2016), Designing at the Limit. G Studio's Alpine Huts (2017), Huts and Bivouacs. The Must-Sees of the Alps (2018), Visiting Huts (2020), The Tamed Mountain. For a Cultural History of Equipped Routes and Ferratas (2023), Alpine Bivouacs. 100 Years of Canned Emotions (2025).