PNRC refuge
Asinau refuge
Below Monte Incudine at 1,534 m, the Asinau refuge opens the swing towards the Bavella massif. Destroyed by fire in 2016 and rebuilt, it has no dorm bunks — only bivouac and tents.
Essentials
The essentials
Key facts
- Altitude · 1,534 m
- Distance · km 157.5 from Calenzana
- On the trail · Between Usciolu and I Paliri
- Capacity · 28 places
- Coordinates · 41.8411, 9.2145
- Management · PNRC · staffed refuge
Book this refuge
Bedding: bivouac or PNRC tent — no dorm bunk.
Booking is compulsory on the Park's official system, by date and place. Refuges are staffed from 16 May to 4 October 2026.
A sleeping bag is required (no blankets provided); meals are ordered from the warden, not online.
On the ground
The refuge on the ground
This is where you decide the next day's route: the alpine Bavella variant (airy, cabled) or the gentler standard path. The neighbouring Asinau sheepfold rounds out the stage's meal options.
Refuge destroyed by fire in March 2016, since rebuilt.
After Asinau the GR20 splits in two: the alpine variant plunges into the Bavella needles (cables, down-climbing), while the normal route skirts them on the western flank.
Facilities — indicative, confirm with the warden
Our traverse
Passing below the Incudine
We only passed through, on the morning of day 11, between the Croci bergerie and Paliri — our last very big day. The climb to Monte Incudine had come gradually, and up there the moment was powerful: the view opens out, Bavella appears as the next great rendezvous, and the end of the traverse truly starts to take shape. The refuge sits in the long drop that follows, before the climb back up towards the col.
Our diary doesn't dwell on Asinau itself: that day, between the aching knee, the 22 kilometres and the pull of the Aiguilles, our heads were already at Bavella. Yet this is the sector where the route gets decided — alpine variant or normal route; we carried on over the Bavella col, met its crowds, such a contrast with the trail's isolation, then pushed on to Paliri.
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