The border between Switzerland and Italy in the Alps runs along the Theodul Glacier. Although they share a common source, the meltwater from the glacier can be either Italian or Swiss, depending on where it flows.
According to AFP, the melting of the Theodul glacier has caused the watershed (the line dividing water sources for two adjacent basins) to shift towards the Rifugio Guide del Cervino, an Italian ski lodge located near the 3,480 m high Testa Grigia peak.
With this natural shift, the Rifugio Guide del Cervino is in a state of "birth" in Italy, "permanent residence" in Switzerland and unclear of its nationality.
Restaurant in Switzerland, menu in Italian
At the Rifugio Guide del Cervino, Frederic, a 59-year-old tourist, opened the narrow wooden door and stepped in. Although the inn had moved to the Swiss side, the menu was in Italian, not German, and meals were priced in euros, not Swiss francs.
At the counter, he ordered a slice of cake and asked, "So are we in Switzerland or Italy?"
This is a worthy question, and it is also the subject of diplomatic negotiations that began in 2018 and ended with a compromise in 2021. However, the details of the agreements remain secret.
When the Rifugio Guide del Cervino was built in 1984, its 40 beds and long wooden tables were entirely in Italy. But now, two-thirds of the lodge, including most of the beds and the restaurant, are geographically located in southern Switzerland.
Melting ice changes the Swiss-Italian border.
The issue of relocating the lodge is all the more remarkable because it is located on top of one of the world's largest ski resorts. A cable car station is being built not far away, which shows how crowded the place is.
An agreement was signed in Florence, Italy, in November 2021 on the shifting border, but the details will only be revealed once it has been ratified by the Swiss government, which will not happen before 2023.
“We have reached a partial agreement on what we initially wanted,” Alain Wicht, a border official at Switzerland's national mapping agency Swisstopo, told AFP.
Mr. Wicht’s job is to look after 7,000 boundary markers along Switzerland’s 1,935-kilometer border with Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein. Mr. Wicht has attended talks where both sides have made concessions to find a solution. “Even if no one wins, at least no one loses,” he said.
Melting ice changes borders
The border between Italy and Switzerland crosses several glaciers in the Alps. These borders run along watersheds.
However, the Theodul Glacier lost nearly a quarter of its ice between 1973 and 2010. This caused the rocky crest that had been lying beneath the ice to rise to the surface, becoming higher than the ice caps and changing the watershed, forcing the two neighbors to redraw their 100-meter-long border.
Such adjustments happen regularly, Mr. Wicht said, and the problem is usually solved by comparing the results of surveys from bordering countries without the intervention of politicians.
The Rifugio Guide del Cervino lodge attracts many skiers.
“We are fighting over territory that is not worth much,” Mr. Wicht argued. But he also noted that the Theodul glacier border “is the only place where we have a building associated with it,” and it brings “economic value” to the land.
Mr Wicht's Italian counterparts declined to comment "due to the complex international situation". Jean-Philippe Amstein, former head of Swisstopo, said such disputes were usually resolved by exchanging plots of land of similar size and value.
In this case, “Switzerland is not interested in taking a piece of glacier,” he explained, and “Italy cannot compensate for Switzerland's loss of surface area.”
"Because we are Italian"
While the outcome of the negotiations remains a secret, Lucio Trucco, manager of the Rifugio Guide del Cervino, has been informed that the lodge will remain on Italian soil.
“The hotel remains Italian because we have always been Italian,” he said. “The menu is Italian, the wine is Italian, and the taxes are Italian.”
Years of negotiations have delayed the renovation of the lodge. Villages on either side of the border have also not been granted building permits, meaning the construction of a new cable car up Italy’s Klein Matterhorn will not be completed by the end of 2023, as originally planned.
The dispute between Switzerland and Italy remains on paper only.
The slopes are only accessible from the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt. Although some mid-altitude resorts are closing their Alpine ski resorts due to global warming, visitors can still ski all summer on the slopes of Zermatt and Cervinia.
“That is why we have to enhance (improve) this area because it will definitely be the last to disappear (due to the impact of climate change),” said Mr Trucco.
Currently, on Swisstopo's map, the dark pink strip of the Swiss border remains a dashed line as it passes through the ski lodge, suggesting it is unclear which country the ski lodge Rifugio Guide del Cervino is in.
