STORIA CERVINO SPA 80 ANNI_EN

80 YEARS OF HISTORY PROJECTED INTO THE FUTURE
A never-ending story which began last century and still continues today. It was 1934, the 25th of April
to be precise, when "Società Anonima Cervino" (as it was called then) was established by a group of
businessmen from Piedmont (plus Luigi Bich from Valle d’Aosta)), including the engineers Dino and
Aldo Lora Totino and Trabaldo Togna, all industrialists in the weaving sector, from Biella.
Until then, Breuil had been a summer destination for mountain climbers attracted by the Cervino
(Matterhorn): skiing was just starting to take hold and Count Dino (short for Secondino, which was his
real name) Lora Totino (Pray 1900, Turin 1980) saw the slopes around as ideal for this type of sport,
which was becoming more and more popular every year.
COUNT DINO LORA TOTINO
His daughter, Maria Alda, tells us why her father chose this location to build the first installations,
including the cable car system inaugurated on the 2nd of August 1936, linking Cervinia with Plan
Maison, launching what was to become one of the world’s biggest “domaines skiables”: "He had always
loved the mountains and loved to ride through the alpine valleys on his motorbike. He was very familiar
with Switzerland and its resorts, particularly St. Moritz, where we often spent our holidays. He was
attracted, as a businessman, by the fact that this resort in Engadina had a double season, one in summer
and one in winter. His grandfather, Giovanni Secondo Lora Totino, nicknamed Secondino, had often told
him about Breuil when he was a little boy, because, in summer, several flocks of sheep used to graze
there, travelling from Biella to the Cervino Valley, to take advantage of the quality of the grass. As a
man, remembering his grandfather’s stories, he decided to visit Breuil in person and immediately, being
the courageous businessman that he was, understood the potential of the place, ideal for summer and
winter tourism. So began his relationship with Cervinia, with the construction of the cable car systems,
which were considered to be very high-tech for the time."
And the enterprise, which is still acknowledged as such from an engineering pint of view, was the very
first cableway for "Cervino", linking Cervinia to Plan Maison (1936), and subsequently Cime Bianche
with Plateau Rosà, reaching an altitude of 3,480 m. This last stretc h, inaugurated on the 4th of March
1939 in the presence of the future King of Italy, Umberto II (then Prince of Piedmont), represented a real
challenge for the time, because it tackled the large gap which reached the top of the glacier with a single
span. It required courage and detailed mathematical calculations. His daughter says: "My father really
wanted to build this system to connect Cervinia with Zermatt, linking the two countries in skiing terms. I
was a little girl and I remember that my dad succeeded in shifting the Swiss border in order to build the
arrival station on the flat. He also changed the name from Testa Grigia to Plateau Rosà, finding the
latter to be more... commercial, prettier and easy to remember."
A technical detail to “pay tribute to that enterprise” is that it took just seven minutes to reach Cime
Bianche from Plan Maison and another seven to reach Plateau Rosà. This made the system the most
modern, as well as the highest in Italy and, definitely, in Europe.
BREUIL-PLAN MAISON CABLEWAY 1936
PLATEAU ROSA’ CABLEWAY 1939
When Italy became involved in the Second World War, things came to a brusque halt and from 1940 to
’45, the business activities linked to the installations at Breuil slowed to a standstill, recommencing
immediately after the end of the War, with the construction of the first ski lifts in the village of Cervinia
and at Plan Maison.
But the "Count of Cervinia" (the title was real, in that he belonged to a noble family) had another dream:
a cableway linking Plan Maison to Furggen (3,385 m), with a slope that was as legendary as the wellknown and travelled descent of the "Ventina" (from Plateau Rosà to the village of Cervinia).
In the Company’s archives, it states that the project was founded in summer 1950, and it was designed
by the engineer Vittorio Zignoli. The system had a single span (with no supporting structures), measuring
2,887 m long, covering a difference in altitude of 940 m, which was a Guinness World Record at the
time. The cableway was inaugurated on the 25th of December 1952 and remained operational until 1993.
Cars holding 25 passengers, with an hourly capacity of 240 people: the Furggen was supposed to be just
the first step on the way to the top of the Cervino (the Matterhorn), with the journey being completed
with another daring cableway; however, this project was abandoned, not just because of the very high
costs, but due to strong opposition from the environmentalists of the day.
The Furggen cable car arrival station, designed by the architect Carlo Mollino, who was just as genial as
Lora Totino, and equally visionary and passionate about challenges (well-known in Cervinia for the
"Casa del Sole", the first example of mountain urbanisation), had the prerogative of being literally
anchored to the rock with a resting platform and was presented with an overhanging construction to
prevent it from collapsing. For the occasion, Mollino also designed the furniture. The altar donated in
the 1960s by Renato Rascel (a skiing enthusiast and regular visitor to Breuil) to the parish priest of
Cervinia, Don Vietto, was subsequently installed on the terrace of the Furggen.
Mrs Lora Totino remembers that time like this: "my father was looking for another way to reach Zermatt
on skis, in addition to the classic descent from Plateau Rosà. He also wanted another alternative to reach
Cervinia, also from the other side of the Ventina, and under the south face of the Cervino."
ORIGINAL POSTCARD OF THE FURGGEN CABLEWAY
At the same time, the two ski-lifts, Cristallo (later Cielo Alto) and Bardoney, were opened, being replaced
in the 1970s with two-seater chair lifts.
In 1961, with the continuous growth in the number of skiers, the "Plan Maison - Cime Bianche Plateau Rosà cable-car line" was doubled, and four years later, in 1965, a second cableway
(inaugurated on the 1st of July) linked Cervinia to Plan Maison, doubling the hourly capacity.
Cielo Alto and Lago Blu, with the homonymous chair lifts (the first of which is still running today) in
the 1970s became popular skiing districts within the extensive Cervinia resort. The slopes of Cielo Alto
hosted World Cup Downhill Skiing and Hot Dog (which we now call freestyle) events.
1982 is another historical date for the Cervinia systems: the neighbouring station of Valtournenche
was connected thanks to the Gran Sometta ski-lift: this marked the birth of "Cervino Ski Paradise",
the huge national and international ski district now known all over the world.
In the second half of the Eighties, the "Breuil-Plan Maison 1" cableway (this being the name of the
oldest of the two cableways) was replaced with the existing 6-passenger cabin lift, flanking the other
cableway for Plan Maison. In 1988, the 12-passenger cabin lift was built in Plan Maison - Cime
Bianche Laghi, covering a distance of over 2 km, travelling at a speed of 5 m a second, with an hourly
capacity of 2,400 people, and this now connects the two orographic sides of Breuil, simplifying the
transferral of skiers and tourists from one part of the district to the other (Plan Maison-Ventina). The
Goillet was built too, and is still operational today (Ventina - Cime Bianche).
6-PASSENGER CABIN LIFT
12-PASSENGER CABIN LIFT
1991 was another important year for the Cervino company, with the inauguration of the new line
connecting to Plateau Rosà, thanks the modern 140-passenger cable car (then the biggest in Italy)
departing from Cime Bianche Laghi and positioned at the arrival of the 12-passenger cabin lift, which is
now even more aesthetically attractive thanks to the futuristic design of its two cabins, fitted with
panoramic glass which allow a 360° view of Breuil and the Cervino during the whole ascent.
NEW PLATEAU ROSA’ CABLEWAY
The Bontadini ski-lift was dismantled in 1995 and replaced with the chair-lift of the same name, and
during the three years that followed, the Fornet and Plan Maison chair-lifts were built to replace the
dated ski-lifts. This trio of four-seater systems with automatic clamps and protective domes, which is
still operational today, considerably improved the connection with Switzerland, also via the Teodulo
Pass.
PLAN MAISON IN THE 60s-70s
PLAN MAISON TODAY
Meanwhile, in 1999, Cervino S.p.A. purchased Cretaz Valfurgenn s.r.l. with the Cretaz ski-lift.
In the third millennium, in 2006 to be precise, two more chair-lifts, Cretaz and Campetto were built,
and they were joined in 2009, by the six-seater chair-lift Pancheron (which replaced the Plan Torrette
and Rocce Nere chair-lifts, built in the 1970s), the first to be equipped with a safety system to prevent
children from slipping and with protective domes. Using the Cretaz and Pancheron systems, as well as
reaching Plan Maison from the centre of Cervinia, it is possible to exploit the whole ski district known
as "Città delle pietre" (the town of stones), where it seems like you can reach out and touch the Cervino.
The Pancheron chair-lift was also the first lift system built by the new management of "Cervino
S.p.A.", purchased on the 30th of September 2008 by the Independent Region of the Valle d'Aosta
by the Cravetto family (who had owned it since the 1960s). On the 1st of May 2012, the Region also
purchased the Valtournenche systems (previously owned by "Cime Bianche S.p.A.") and then, on
the 31st of May 2013, those of the former "SIRT di Torgnon" and "Chamois Impianti",
incorporating them into "Cervino S.p.A."
PANCHERON CHAIR-LIFT
Today’s story continues with the improvement of the artificial snow canon systems in 2015, on slopes
“5" and "3", to guarantee a return to the centre of Cervinia on skis at the beginning and end of the season.
Of the “80 years of history projected into the future" one constant remains: that vision, had last century,
by Count Lora Totino when he connected Cervinia with Zermatt, to give the location an international
feel, along with the farsightedness of Luigi Cravetto, Chairman of "Cervino S.p.A." until the first decade
of the 21st century, with his son Mario, Managing Director, who so desired the national link with
Valtournenche, making it possible to ski in three different places without ever removing their skis.
Within the next few years, a system connecting Plateau Rosà with the Piccolo Cervino is going to be
built, making it possible to reach Zermatt without skis, using “just” the lift systems.
But the story doesn’t end here: a feasibility study is in progress to link the Cervino Ski Paradise district
with Monterosa Ski, to offer skiers a domaine skiable that is unique in the world, in terms of slopes, for
skiing connections, breath-taking views and high altitudes, guaranteeing high-quality snow at all times.