The couple spends the summer running in a shelter 2000 meters above sea level.
Three months ago, Manuela Ferri, 50, was a physiotherapist and lived in the Italian city of Vicenza. She now she is the director of a remote mountain retreat in the Trento region.
Manuela and her husband have taken over the management of Rifugio Peller, exchanging a life full of cars and chaos for fresh air and amazing landscapes. For Manuela, it is the dream of her life, but it also entails a lot of work and adaptation to a new way of life.
This is what it’s like to spend a summer in a shelter – a rustic mountain hotel with simple accommodation and a restaurant – 2000 meters above sea level.
I’m living my dream
“My husband and I have always been mountain lovers, even as children,” explains Manuela. But recently, there came a time when the universe seemed to be orchestrating a more permanent move to the mountains for the couple.
“My husband had a carpentry business but he had to close it in December because he worked alone and I have a physiotherapy studio that I can leave on hold during the summer season“, says Manuela.
“We were both tired of doing the same things and living within four walls, and everything came together in the right way.
That said, his first attempts to apply for the management of a rifugio near his home in Vicenza they were not successfulso they had to look further afield. The Peller Shelterabout 200 kilometers to the north, was available and they submitted their application along with 15 other applicants.
The couple was successful thanks to their experience in dealing with people and their proposal of how they would manage the shelter: “In a way, it’s the same job I did before, but higher up and with better views,” jokes Manuela.
What it’s like to run a remote mountain lodge
There are hundreds of shelters spread across the italian mountain ranges, from small unstaffed cabins to structures with accommodation and restaurants. What they usually have in common is their remoteness and lack of connection to the electrical grid or water supply.
Rifugio Peller has 31 beds and a restaurant serving local specialties. The food and other supplies arrive at a nearby parking lot, where shelter staff pick them up in their van.
The electricity comes from a generator and solar panelswhile water comes from tanks that collect rain. He water supply is one of Manuela’s worries as Italy swells in the midst of another scorching summer.
“We are careful with the use of water and we hope that our guests are also careful, for example by showering rarely,” says Manuela.
Management is a family affair, with Manuela in contact with guests, her brother Gabriele managing the website and her husband Rivael in charge of maintenance.
Along the summerthe shelter will host various events, including a musical evening with a local choir, lessons on how to collect and use medicinal herbs and a “sound bath” with musicians playing digeridoos, gongs and bells.
“It’s chaotic, but what relaxes us is the fresh air and the panorama. It is a total change of lifestyle and that is giving us energy“.
