Melting Alps glacier moves border between Switzerland and Italy

Melting of Theodul Glacier shifts boundary between two states

(Getty Images)

The location of a mountain lodge in Italy is in dispute after a melting glacier in the Alps moved the country's border with Switzerland.

The Theodul Glacier, located south of Zermatt in the canton of Valais, southern Switzerland, is slowly shifting. The borderline runs along its drainage divide.

Water melting from the glacier flows from the drainage divide down either side of a mountain towards one country or another, ending up in a river or a lake.

The movement of the Theodul Glacier means the watershed has shifted slightly towards the Rifugio Guise del Cervino - a refuge for visitors high up in the mountain range.

Rifugio Guise del Cervino, near the 3,480-metre Testa Grigia peak on the Italian side of the Monte Rosa Massif in the Pennine Alps, has always been considered Italian.

But some are calling that into question as the Theodul Glaciers's watershed moves beneath the building. "So - are we in Switzerland?" Frederic, a 59-year-old tourist asked on a recent visit to the lodge's restaurant, Agence France-Presse reported.

Switzerland and Italy have been negotiating with one another over the land. Talks started in 2018 and ended last year, although the outcome has not been disclosed.

Both sides came to an agreement in Florence in November but the details will be kept under wraps until 2023 at the earliest - when the deal is signed off by the Swiss government.

“We agreed to split the difference,” said Alain Wicht, the chief border official at Switzerland’s national mapping agency Swisstopo.

Mr Wicht's opposite numbers in Italy declined to comment “due to the complex international situation”.

The issue came to the fore because the area, which relies heavily on tourism for its income, is located at the top of one of the world's largest ski resorts, where a major new development - including acable car station - is being constructed.

Rifugio Guise del Cervino was built in 1984. At that point, its 40 beds and long wooden tables were in Italian territory.

Now some two-thirds of the lodge, including most of the beds in the restaurant, are technically on southern Swiss soil.

But Lucio Trucco, the lodge’s 59-year-old caretaker, remains defiant.

“The refuge remains Italian because we have always been Italian,” he said. “The menu is Italian, the wine is Italian, and the taxes are Italian.”