Ospizio Bernina

The highest point of the UNESCO World Heritage route of the Rhaetian Railway lies at 2,053 m a.s.l. The buildings at Bernina bear witness to the pioneering era of railway construction and to the enormous effort it required – and still requires – to operate a railway in high‑alpine terrain.

“The Bernina Railway opens up a vast tourist area of outstanding scenic value, which even during the arduous stagecoach era along the long valley and mountain roads, and later along the Bernina Road completed in 1865, succeeded for many years in attracting and captivating an ever‑growing number of travellers and tourists,” wrote an engineer in 1912, reflecting on the construction of the Bernina line.

And the new railway was well received. The large buildings along the line, however, were constructed only later. The station building and the mountain inn Bernina Hospiz were created in around 1925 by expanding an earlier structure.
The architect Nicolaus Hartmann Jr. designed here, at 2,253 m above sea level, a stone building that incorporates neoclassical elements such as the triangular gable, yet through its rough‑stone construction remains closely tied to the barren and majestic character of the Bernina Pass.
Nicolaus Hartmann Jr. also designed the covered turntable, which adjoins the 1910 converter station and the 1912 residential building.

Like Alp Grüm, Bernina Ospizio is a great starting point for various hikes or mountain‑bike adventures.