Women of the Highlands

Women's mountaineering in Trentino and mountain huts

Towards the end of the 19th century, even the rocky walls of the Trentino Dolomites witnessed the first female mountaineers, both local and from foreign countries.

In that same period, the first mountain huts were built in the Trentino mountains, as a consequence of the developing mountaineering practice, and also due to the increasing popularity of mountain tourism and hiking during the Austro-Hungarian era. And many women managed these mountain huts, to offer refreshment and rest to those venturing off in the mountains.

Rifugio Tosa Pedrotti and Caterina Decarli’s willpower

Caterina Decarli’s story is linked to the history of the oldest mountain hut in the Dolomites. The SAT (Società Alpinisti Tridentini) entrusted her with running Rifugio Tosa in 1910, at an extremely delicate time in history. Indeed, at the time, the mountain huts were an instrument of political battle against pan-Germanist associations. And entrusting Caterina with the management of such a disputed and coveted mountain hut was yet another chapter in the long Italian-German battle. Decarli managed the facility with so much efficiency, that SAT expressly asked her to continue managing it for several years.

Rifugio Brentei and the strength of Nella Detassis

Born in Trieste, a seaside town, in 1909, Nella Detassis was a competitive swimmer and skier. She ranked second in the 1934 downhill, second in the 1935 slalom and third in the 1936 slalom. For two consecutive years, she was also third in the Alpine Combined. She became the first Italian ski instructor and was a reserve at the 1936 Olympics, with an Italian team featuring only five athletes. She was fluent in three languages, and passionate about art and botany.

She discovered climbing with her husband, Alpine Guide Bruno Detassis, and moved with him to Madonna di Campiglio, to help him manage the Ski School, while also practising both climbing and mountaineering with perseverance.

In 1949, the couple started running the Rifugio Brentei: while Bruno was busy working as a mountain guide, Nella took care of the mountain hut.

Rifugio Maria and Maria Piaz’s passion

This famous mountain hut at the top of the Dolomites terrace is named after Maria Piaz, called the 'mare del Pordoi', which means the ‘mother of Pordoi’ in the Ladin language. Sister of the great mountain guide Tita Piaz, she was born in Pera di Fassa in 1877. Determined and rebellious from an early age, when she was still a teenager, she joined a theatre company, which at the time was considered socially unsuitable for a woman. A forerunner of her times and emblem of women's emancipation, she was also the first woman in Fassa to separate from her husband. During a climb up Passo Pordoi with her father to buy a pig, Maria discovered this place and fell madly in love with it. Tireless and hard-working, she invested the little money she had in a shack to start off, and began her business as an innkeeper. From 1915 to 1918, she was interned in the Katzenau concentration camp for helping two irredentist Trentino people cross the border. Finally, in the 1960s, she was one of the most heated promoters, together with her son Francesco Dezulian, of the construction of the cable car from the Pass to Sass Pordoi. The venture succeeded and she inaugurated it herself in 1963.

And so, if we could ask her that question, well, perhaps Maria would answer with one of her most famous phrases, 'L'é dut nia', meaning 'Nothing matters'. What could she possibly have meant by it?