2019-03-01ReadersDigest_AUNZ

122 | March• 2019

SWEPT AWAY

were dismissed for lack of evidence.

Still, questions lingered about how

Del Rosso had so quickly obtained a

zoning variance for a major commer-

cial expansion inside a national park.

Beyondallegationsofdodgy

financial dealings, there were safety

concerns.PasqualeIannetti,an

alpine guide who served on the

town’s avalanche commission,

warned municipal officials in 1999

that the area – sitting in one of the

most tectonically unstable corners

ofEurope–wassusceptibletoland-

slides and avalanches.

Geological experts spoke up, too,

noting that the structure, located at

thebaseofacanyon,satinthepath

of a natural conduit for snow cas-

cading down from Monte Siella. In

fact, aerial photography had shown

evidence of an avalanche in 1936 on

thespotwherethehotelnowstood.

AS THE GUESTSawoke on Wednes-

day, January 18, they discovered that

their predicament had worsened

were unrelenting. Soon they retreated
indoors, where the conversation
at dinner was troubling. “I’m more
scared than you,” a waiter confided.
“I’vebeenstuckhereforsixdays.”
By now snow covered the
restaurant’s windows. And the storm
showed no sign of stopping. Before
they clicked off the light to go to sleep
in room 103, Matrone turned to his
wife. “The only thing we need now,”
he said in jest, “is an earthquake.”

Whiff of Corruption

Thatnightthehotelhadjust28
guests,butitcouldhavebeenworse.
Businesshadalwaysbeenbrutalin
thewinter.Sinceithadbeenbuilt
in1958asamodesthiker’shut,the
Rigopiano had closed up during the
snowymonths–evenafteritbecame
ahotelin1967.Withnoskislopes
nearby to attract visitors, the hotel
wastoughtosustain.Thingsgotso
badinthe1990sthatthehotelwas
abandoned and fell to ruin.
Ithadbeensomethingofasur-
prisewhenDelRosso,thenephew
oftheoriginalproprietor,reopened
the Rigopiano in 2007, pouring mil-
lionsintoadramaticexpansion–the
centrepiece of which was a spa to lure
guestsupthemountainyear-round.
But the resurrection had long borne
a whiff of corruption. In 2012, pros-
ecutors charged a handful of local
officials and builders in a bribery
scheme related to the project. After
a drawn-out legal fight, the charges

Matrone had had

enough.“Let’s get

the baggage and

get out of here,”

he told his wife,

dressing quickly