The Splügen and Stelvio Roads (Conclusion)

Appendix.

The Splügen and the Stelvio Road. 2/2

(Conclusion).

Only as winter wanes do the warmer rays of the sun begin to act upon this defile of snow. The stability of the walls is threatened, and melted water gathers in the hollows worn into the roadbed by horses' hooves. In those regions this period is called the season of road subsidences (epoca degli sfondacci). At this point, in order to enable wheeled vehicular traffic to resume, the rotteri must completely clear the road surface of its crust of snow and ice, so that the gravel surfacing is exposed and can be replenished as needed. This preparation of the track is termed exposure of the ground (terrenamento). The snowbanks on either side, by contrast, are cut back only so far as is necessary to maintain a track width of 3 metres, and a width of 5 metres at passing places and switchbacks (tourniquets). Runoff of water is provided for by cutting small channels (canalleti). The complete shovelling away of the snow is regarded as an ordinary service to be performed by the rotteri, and for that reason it takes place only gradually.

The dates of the change between wheeled and sledge travel are announced in the official gazettes for the guidance of the public.

Like ordinary road maintenance workers, the rotteri are also required to inspect the stretch of road entrusted to them every day. The prescribed standard is a twice-daily patrol, and during severe weather, particularly during storms, patrols must be repeated several times, both to ascertain the condition of the road and any resulting damage or obstacles to passage as early as possible, and to learn of any other incidents involving travelers.

The rotteri are indeed also obliged to assist travelers and wagons most vigorously and free of any charge, and in case of need, depending on specific circumstances, either to guide them to the nearest refuge house (cantoniera) or to procure the necessary help on the spot. The rotteri must regularly accompany the mail courier (Felleisenpost) at night and, when required, also by day.

So that these men may perform their manifold duties, each of them must be equipped with a spade whenever setting out, and some are provided with a robust mountain horse and a small sledge. A few years ago, 48 rotteri, distributed across 13 stations, were in service on the Stelvio Road, whose endpoints are at Bormio in Valtellina and on the Mals postal road in Tyrol; 13 of them had such a conveyance assigned to them. In urgent cases, the rotteri stationed closest to one another must also render mutual assistance.

Indispensable conditions for their recruitment include a robust physique accustomed to alpine winters, an age of not less than 20 and not more than 50 years, and a moral character certified as blameless by the competent authority. To maintain disciplinary order, each station has a so-called capo or caporale, chosen from among the rotteri and held responsible for their conduct.

Higher supervision and direction are exercised by the technical assistants charged with ordering snow clearance, who must report on these matters to the chief engineers.

The rotteri are lodged partly in postal and other fiscal buildings, but mostly in specially built cottages (casini) or in the cantoniere. The former are built in the shape of an elongated rectangle with a portico for driving in and out, and possess, in addition to the ground floor and cellar rooms, an upper storey. The ground floor contains the stable and kitchen, and the upper storey the hayloft and two heatable rooms. The portico is fitted with lockable gates, the small windows with bars and shutters. Only the exterior and ground-floor walls are constructed of quarry stone without any plaster, bonded merely with spalls. The partition walls, floors, ceilings, and the panelling of the remaining walls of the rooms on the first floor are made of boards. Even on the northern slopes of the two passes, the roofs are kept very low in the southern fashion and, like the roofing boards, are made entirely of larch wood.

The cantoniere are constructed on a larger scale than the casini. In determining their topographic location and number, the various conditions of the terrain and locality served as a guide. The bolder the course of the road, the more inhospitable the area owing to its remoteness from human settlements or to elemental events, the greater is the number of these refuge buildings and the shorter their distance from one another. On the southern slopes of the mountain range, whose individual regions become barer and rockier the higher they lie, and where most avalanches occur, the cantoniere are therefore found in greater numbers than on the northern declivities. On the latter, each of the two road corridors has only a single cantoniera, whereas on the south side the Splügen Road has two and the Stelvio Road has four.

These single-storey buildings, which are likewise fitted on the upper front with a projecting portico, generally have a length of 27 metres and a width of 10 metres. The ground floor usually contains two rooms for the use of the rotteri, one situated over the cellar and the other occasionally used as a hayloft, as well as a kitchen and a stable. On the upper floor, in the middle of the tract, there is a common heated room (stufa comune) with a main entrance and two doors placed opposite each other along the longitudinal axis of the building, connecting to corridors leading to four rooms; furthermore, a kitchen, two small larders, and several access and storage spaces (siti d´accesso e ribostigli). Here and there, the cantoniera also accommodates the postal stable or even the residence of the postmaster. The construction with respect to walls, partitions, roofing, as well as protection against weather and burglary, is identical to that of the cottages of the rotteri.

All living rooms are heatable and provided with the utensils required by travelers arriving unexpectedly and staying only temporarily.

Guided by feelings of admiration and gratitude in recalling our own observations and personal experiences, we have dedicated our modest pen to these magnificent institutions, which rank worthily alongside those on the Great St Bernard. (Wien. Z.)

Johann Pabst.