.. I always see the quiet lodge, lonely enough to fulfill the most inner necessities of the soul, desirous of peace and rest. Lucky is the man who can, even for a brief moment, find himself at the presence of the mountain range, where even the latest plants disappear, the glacier reveals itself in its full majesty. (Giovanni Bertacchi, 1912)

Buzzi Hotel

It was possible to be accommodate at Rifugio Forni – previously known as ‘the house of the innkeeper at the Forni Glacier’ – since the half of XIX Century, as it is showed from some prints written in German language. Later, in 1896, the host family (Buzzi family) upgraded and enlarged the structure, making it a lodge located at an altitude of 2.200 meters a.s.l. provided with modern comfort and facilities. During these days the lodge at the Forni glacier was already offering, beyond the hiking and mountaineering activities, a bowls and a tennis field, and several facilities such as hairdresser, access to religious and medical facilities, postal and telegraph service.

Wandering and hiking through magnificent Alpine landscapes

When the Alps began to be studied and climbed up intensely, the Buzzi hotel has accommodated several mountaineers coming from all over Europe, as well as glaciology researchers and scientists, among them the organizer of the ascent of the K2 (1954), Ardito Desio.
Antique posters, brochures and postcards are now collected at the lodge as a remain of the past, while a scale model made of chalk representing the Ortles-Cevedale mountain range has been built in the first years of XX Century. All of these object and artifacts are currently available at the Rifugio Forni, to be admired and consulted in order to discover the natural environment surrounding the hut at that time.

During the years of the First World War, the hut was used as a barracks for the alpine troops fighting in the neighboring mountains of the Ortles-Cevedale range.

Later, after been restructured and restored as a lodge, Rifugio Forni has become an important starting/departure point for naturalistic and ethno-historical excursions, involving the discover of the nearby trenches, walkways and paths which serves in the ‘White war” – the name that has been given to the conflict fought in the Alps among the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire front.