PNRC refuge
Ortu di u Piobbu refuge
The first refuge on the GR20 when you start from Calenzana, Ortu di u Piobbu sits at 1,520 m and marks the end of the long opening climb. Destroyed by fire in 2019, it has run on temporary facilities managed by the Park ever since.
Essentials
The essentials
Key facts
- Altitude · 1,520 m
- Distance · km 11 from Calenzana
- On the trail · Between Calenzana and Carrozzu
- Capacity · 32 beds + tent pitches
- Coordinates · 42.4653, 8.9069
- 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
You reach it after 11 km of steady climbing on stage 1. The nearest water source is about a hundred metres away, and the refuge has no dorm bunks — only bivouac or a PNRC tent, worth planning for if you hoped to sleep indoors.
Refuge destroyed by fire in May 2019; temporary facilities since, still run by the PNRC.
Together with Asinau in the south, it's one of the only two GR20 refuges with no dorm bunks: since the 2019 fire, you sleep only in a bivouac or a rented PNRC tent.
Facilities — indicative, confirm with the warden
Our traverse
Our first night on the trail
We slept here at the end of our first stage, on 18 August 2025, arriving at 13h15 after seven hours out from Calenzana. The refuge first appeared as a small dot in the mountains, seemingly close — then not really: a feeling we would come to know well on the GR20. On arrival, a good surprise, the beers were there; shortly afterwards a storm broke, and everything left unprotected reminded us that when you bivouac, organisation counts as much as legs.
The evening left a mixed taste: the dinner menu was frankly disappointing for the price, when after a first day like that a generous meal would have mattered. This is also where our three-man GR20 came to an end — Arnaud's ankle didn't hold, and he headed back down to Calenzana in the morning. We set off again as a pair towards Carrozzu, at 07h25.
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