At 2328 m above sea level, the Tagliaferri refuge is located in Val di Scalve and is run by Francesco Tagliaferri, creator of the refuge project named after his brother who died in the Peruvian Andes in the 1980s and manager for more than 30 years.
It takes time and effort to get to Tagliaferri: a hike in the wilderness of the Scalve Valley. It starts from Ronco di Schilpario, taking the mule track that climbs steadily up the Vo valley along a challenging 4-hour route. Shorter is the Valtellina access from the Belviso Lakes along a 2 1/2-hour route.
There are 50 beds and plenty of seats: the indoor hall has 50 seats and the outdoor tables have 100 seats.
It features zero-mile, slow-cooked cuisine, because house specialties such as lamb bites boiled in butter take hours to prepare and cook. A source of pride for the lodge is the cellar stocked with alpine herb schnapps and fine labels of wine and whiskey arrived directly from Scotland.
The environment is distinctive and interesting not only because of the many small lakes scattered on the surrounding mountain slopes but also because of the fauna as well as the flora; in fact, the area is protected by the Valbelviso-Barbellino hunting wildlife reserve.
