Overview

• The Alpenverein Südtirol (CAI) has suggested replacing century-old German-origin names of over a dozen mountain huts with Italian region or local geographic names.
• The huts were constructed in the 19th century by German and Austrian alpine clubs and retained their original titles even after South Tyrol became part of Italy following World War I.
• Otto Mahlknecht of the Freedom Party warned that renaming threatens to erase the region’s mountaineering heritage and represents questionable identity politics.
• AVS representative Ingrid Beikircher emphasized that any future renaming would be accompanied by multilingual historical plaques to preserve the huts’ legacy.
• No formal government decision has been made and public debate continues over the proposal’s implications for cultural identity and tourism branding.