The deserted Rossalm mountain restaurant in the Plose ski area above Brixen
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
With the snow glistening in the sun and a cobalt sky arcing over a range of sawtooth mountains, Werner Hinteregger should be run off his feet, serving plates of steaming dumplings and slices of strudel topped with cream to hungry skiers.
Instead, his picturesque timber restaurant is deserted, the tables inside and out devoid of tourists, the children’s playground smothered in thick snow, the breath-taking views of the Dolomites appreciated only by him and his brother.
The restaurant, its wooden walls decorated with stuffed marmots and chamois horns, sits right on the ski slopes above the town of Brixen, in the German-speaking South Tyrol province of northern Italy.
But with Italy gripped in a vicious second wave of Covid-19 infections, and with the government fearing a third wave, those pistes have remained closed so far this winter season.
The snow may be plentiful and the weather conditions perfect, but not a single skier is swooshing down the slopes here in the Dolomites.
It is the same across the Italian Alps as well as in neighbouring France – no ski resorts have been allowed to open for the Christmas period.
The ban is expected to last until January 7, when the Italian government has said it hopes to be able to allow resorts to open. The economic impact is devastating, with tens millions of euros of lost revenue.
Winter tourism in Italy employs around 400,000 people, from ski instructors and lift operators to hoteliers and restaurant owners, generating annual revenue of around €10 billion.
Werner Hinteregger runs the Rossalm lodge on the Plose massif with his brother Christoph
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
“It’s really a disaster. Normally this area would be packed,” said Mr Hinteregger, pointing at the wooden benches and tables in front of an outdoor bar decorated with traditional wooden sledges and leather saddles.
He has been doubly unfortunate – he and his brother Christoph took over the running of the mountain restaurant on December 1, in the midst of Italy’s second lockdown. “We chose a not very ideal time,” he said with some understatement.
Above the restaurant are six cosy rooms which would normally be fully booked. “Every day guests call us up and cancel their reservations, even for January and February,” said Mr Hinteregger.
But he has chosen to remain open, relying on the few hardy hikers, some with snowshoes, who reach the Rossalm taverna on foot.
Huge letters spell out the word Plose, the name of the ski resort above Brixen
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
Business picks up a little at the weekends but during the week it is eerily quiet – so much so that a tiny alpine shrew scampers nonchalantly across the snow-covered terrace, where normally hundreds of skiers would be glugging mulled wine and working on their tans.
Ski resorts make a third of their revenue in the period between Christmas and New Year, and the ban on skiing has hit them hard.
They already sustained big losses in March, when they had to close down prematurely after Italy’s first national lockdown was imposed.
“This is unprecedented, we’ve never seen the mountain like this before,” said Alessandro Marzola, the managing director of the Plose skiing area, a network of 40km of pistes which sits above Brixen.
In a normal winter, Plose attracts 250,000 skiers. “This year, up to now, we’ve had zero. If we are allowed to reopen, I think at best we will manage 50,000 skiers during the rest of the season,” he said.
“A ski resort is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak – the whole local economy depends on it. If you think Italy records 28 million skier days each winter, then we are talking about losses of billions of euros.”
Brixen is a historic town in South Tyrol, a German-speaking autonomous province in northern Italy
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
The decision to ban skiing this festive season was informed, in part, by the example last season of places like Ischgl, an Austrian ski resort that became a hotspot for Covid-19 infections early this year.
Ski operators insist that measures can be taken to improve safety.
The number of skiers allowed in gondolas can be reduced, the Perspex windows kept open and the cabins sanitised with high-powered blasts of hydrogen peroxide.
But even the most fervent enthusiasts acknowledge that having hundreds of skiers queuing for lifts presents a challenge, with close proximity providing an ideal way for the virus to spread.
Of the 5,000 hotels in South Tyrol, only around 50 are open for Christmas and New Year.
One of them is My Arbor, a modernist hotel built on stilts on the side of a forested mountain above Brixen.
Its owner, Markus Huber, decided to open last week, despite the dearth of tourists. Around 30-40% of rooms are occupied.
“We can’t even cover our expenses with that. But even when the hotel is closed, it costs money to run it, so we might as well open. We just hope that it will be better by the summer,” Mr Huber said.
There is much at stake – the 104-room hotel cost €27 million to build and only opened two years ago.
Down in Brixen, which was founded in the 10th century along the banks of the fast-flowing Eisack river, the mood is equally downbeat.
Brixen, a picturesque town on the banks of the Eisack River in South Tyrol
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
As in the rest of Italy, shops, bars and restaurants have to close at 6pm, after which the streets are practically empty.
The main square, which is dominated by a twin-towered cathedral, would normally be buzzing with a Christmas market, its 30 stalls selling gluhwein, pastries, wooden toys and traditional crafts.
There is normally an ice rink and a light show that in the past has brought in 60,000 spectators.
But this festive season, the square is empty but for a large Christmas tree and some nativity figures.
“It’s weird that it’s so quiet. It’s a ghost town,” said Erica Kircheis from Brixen Tourism during a stroll through the historic centre in the early evening.
Peter Brunner, the mayor of Brixen
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
“Tourists come to South Tyrol for a unique blend of Alpine atmosphere and Mediterranean flair. Now, we don’t have any tourists at all. It’s a 100% drop in tourism — a huge loss.”
Once part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, South Tyrol has a strong Germanic feel – bakeries sell brot rather than pane and 75% of the population speak German as their first language. But ski resorts in the autonomous province are going through the same economic pain as those in the rest of Italy.
On the banks of the river is the Alter Schlachthof, a former slaughterhouse that has been turned into a fashionable bar and restaurant. With its original tiled walls and iron girders, it has a touch of New York or London about it.
All ski lifts and pistes are closed, leaving the mountains to be enjoyed by a handful of walkers and snow-shoe enthusiasts
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
Having to close at 6pm means a big loss of revenue from evening drinkers and diners, said Lissi Tschöll, who runs it.
“In retrospect, I would not have reopened. From an economic point of view, it’s not been worth it. But we try to think positively. We wanted to send a message of hope to the town.”
She is pessimistic about the next few weeks and thinks that the government will impose a third national lockdown.
“And then we will have to close. We are still in the middle of this pandemic. The whole of the town is in a low-level depression. It’s really sad because Brixen is normally so lively. South Tyrol lives off tourism. If there is no skiing, we don’t stand a chance. This has been a lost year.”
The Alter Schlachthof bar and restaurant, a former slaughterhouse, in Brixen
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
Around the corner is the rathaus or town hall, where the mayor’s office is decorated with frescoes depicting chivalric scenes. Lockdown and the crushing of the tourism sector is taking its toll, said Peter Brunner.
“People are afraid of losing their jobs. They come to me saying that they can’t pay their rent, they can’t manage anymore. It pains me to see people suffering,” he said.
“We just have to hope that everything will be allowed to reopen on January 7. If we can’t open then, it will be economic carnage.”
Mr Marzola, who runs the ski lifts above Brixen, is not holding out much hope for salvation in the short-term.
Alessandro Marzola, managing director of the Plose ski area
Credit: Chris Warde-Jones
“I would say the chances of opening on January 7 are zero. I can’t imagine that the government will allow the country to switch from tough restrictions one day to a free-for-all the day afterwards.”
Having worked as a consultant on ski resort developments in places like China and Kazakhstan, he takes a broad view.
If vaccines can be rolled out fast enough and the virus is defeated, tourists will return en masse next winter, he thinks.
“For businesses that can survive the pandemic, I think there will be great opportunities once the recovery gets underway,” he said, surveying an expanse of snowy pistes that, for now, are the preserve of a few hikers and the occasional lonely shrew.
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