The Corte Nuovo mountain pasture, once an important place of rural life for local communities, is now at the center of a worthy redevelopment project by the Borgnone Patriciate.

 

The purpose of the building restoration is to curb the incessant degradation of one of the most significant mountain pastures in the valley, to keep alive the memory of past generations and to offer a resting and refreshment point for hikers who today wish to discover this enchanting portion. of territory.

The first phase of the works, successfully completed, led to the recovery of the smaller building: the old alpine hut, destroyed a few years ago by lightning, has now become a welcoming alpine refuge.

Thanks to the contributions of various associations and the donations of numerous citizens, in the autumn of 2016 it was thus possible to resume the thread of a history, with a very troubled process, whose origins date back to a few decades ago, as described below.

 

By consulting the patrician documents, for the first time there is news of the intention to build a refuge in Corte Nuovo, back in 1983.

A special commission of the Patriciate which included: Bruno Fiscalini, Mauro Fiscalini, Erminio Manfrina, Osvaldo Pantini and Fernando Rizzoli, after having made the tour of the patrician buildings, reported in his report:

“The Assembly is aware that it would be desirable to have an incisive intervention on the Corte Nuovo buildings which, as a matter of opportunity, are the only ones to represent a real patrician heritage that could still be exploited in an interesting way for the patricians today. We think in particular of the formation of an alpine hut where our patricians could enjoy the days of summer presence in peace, as well as the magnificent view of all the surrounding mountains " .

 

On October 30, 1997, on the initiative of Dante Fiscalini, the Pro Costa forwarded a letter to the patrician administration asking that consideration be given to the possibility of arranging the centuries-old path that leads from Costa to Corte Nuovo and to transform the two cottages of this mountain pasture. in a hut. Project solicited by several parties as it was believed that it could contribute to the tourist revitalization of the High Centovalli.

 

On the occasion of the patrician Assembly of 19 December 1997, an ad hoc commission was therefore constituted, composed of 5 members: Giuseppe Maggetti, Mario Manfrina, Dante Fiscalini, Luigi Rizzoli and Mario Fiscalini who in the subsequent Assembly of 3 July 1998 gave some explanations on the matter. to the alpine hut. Mario Fiscalini resigned from the position of member and Veglio Fiscalini took over.

 

We returned to talk about it in the shareholders' meeting on 7 May 2004 when Giuseppe Maggetti took up the problem and expressed the idea of ​​creating a summer / winter hut, based on the CAS, UTOE, FAT model, putting forward the request to obtain a surface right, assuring the commitment to bring a preliminary project, which took place on December 3, 2004. At the request of a patrician, the subject was however delegated to an extraordinary assembly which was held on January 21, 2005.

On that occasion the newly established CentovalliViva Association, through the voice of its President Giuseppe Maggetti, highlighted the possible tourist-excursion developments related to the project set up by the architect. Silvano Berri and asked to be able to benefit from a surface right. The request obtained the approval of the Assembly which granted it for a period of 99 years, with an annual rent of CHF 100.- But against this decision, which was unanimously approved, an appeal was lodged which after being rejected by the Council of State it was also the cantonal administrative court.

On November 9, 2005, the Patrician Office then asked the Council of State to ratify the constitution of a surface right in favor of the CentovalliViva Association, a decision that the Section of Local Authorities approved on December 13, 2005. As soon as it became final. , on January 19, 2006, the then President of the Patriciate, Luigi Rizzoli, forwarded the construction application for the new hut to the Borgnone Town Hall. However, it was the subject of a departmental opposition as it was necessary to change the classification of the buildings in order to subsequently allow the change of use. Change of classification of a cottage outside the building zones which was requested as a minor change and published by the Municipality of Borgnone on November 16, 2006, a week after receiving the approval of the Department of the territory.

 

On 27 August 2007, the Town Hall of the then Municipality of Borgnone issued the building permit for a project whose total cost was CHF 820,000.-

 

As evidence of the fact that between saying and doing there is the sea, almost twenty-five years had passed since that distant relationship in 1983, but it will take another ten to make those good intentions come true!

 

On the occasion of the Patrician Assembly of March 5, 2010, the Patriciate regained its ownership of Corte Nuovo thanks to the free transfer of the approved project and of the rights in its favor by the Centovalli Viva Association. Project that was accepted, in a decisive way, by the current patrician administration which, on January 19, 2016, requested the new Municipality of Centovalli to update the building permit. On February 5, 2016, "taking into account that the preparations for the restructuring are underway and that the project has an important objective in the construction of a public structure", the Executive confirmed that the license issued was still valid.

 

We then presented ourselves to the Assembly, initially scheduled for March 3, 2016, but which was postponed to June 26, following yet another appeal that caused an unpleasant waste of time. The authorizations of the case were accompanied by a rough estimate of around CHF 100,000 and the first important contributions from a fundraiser that had started in the meantime and which will subsequently be accompanied by the “Griffa una pioda” action.

On 8 and 9 June the soldiers of the CP went up to uncover the roof and clear out the inside of the building; on 28 September the Flavio Pedrazzi company, together with the GRG which ensured the carpentry works, started the works which, with full satisfaction and despite the delay caused by the appeal, were completed on 2 December. In the following months and years, thanks to some volunteers, almost all people outside the Patriciate, we then took care of making the interior spaces welcoming, building a temporary toilet and arranging the outdoor spaces.

 

The gaze now turns to the ordinary management of the Refuge with the future aspiration to be able to also put a hand to the stallion and thus complete this ambitious project born many years ago.