Rifugio Prabello

The Prabello refuge, owned by the CAI of Monteolimpino, is located in Cerano d'Intelvi, in the province of Como. The Prabello Refuge originally started as a luxury hotel in the late nineteenth century. At the beginning of the last century, with the advent of World War I, the structure took on the role of a strategic control point for the northern border and smuggling activities. With the construction of the Cadorna Line, the northern frontier of the Italian defensive system, the refuge was repurposed first as a military shelter for trench workers and later as a barracks for the Italian Guardia di Finanza. By the late 1970s, the barracks had been decommissioned and abandoned until the following decade. In the 1980s, the refuge was taken under the care of the CAI of Como and later by the Monteolimpino subsection, which carried out restoration, safety, and functional recovery work on the structure. Today, the Prabello Refuge has always been managed by volunteer members of the CAI of Monteolimpino, except for a two-year hiatus in 2005 and 2006, during which the structure remained closed.