At 5.45am Arild pokes me in the arm to tell me the stars are out. At first I was at a loss as to why my morning slumber had been so rudely disturbed. Then I remembered expressly demanding that I wanted to be woken should the clouds that had obscured the stars the previous night lift.

By the time I stagger from our room, Roberta Silva, who manages the Rifugio Roda di Vael in the Dolomite mountains where I’m staying has come to collect me – clearly I had been adamant that I must see the stars the previous evening.

To both Arild and Roberta I will be eternally grateful. Using the telescopes that stargazers Alberto and Andrea had demonstrated to us the previous evening I can clearly see Orion’s Belt and Mars. It’s an incredible experience, and not that we needed any telescope to appreciate the twinkling early morning sky.

The day before we had taken the cable car from Vigo di Fassa, a small commune in the Trentino region to Conca del Ciampedie. From there we hiked 4.5km to Roberta’s refuge at an altitude of 2,283 metres.

Arriving at Conca del Ciampedie, the weather was against us. Clouds had engulfed the mountains and I feared the worst. But our guide Cesare assured us that soon we would ascend above the clouds and that there would be amazing views of the jagged Dolomites from the refuge.

The hike started with a steep climb but then flattened out along a plateau and soon we could distinguish Marmolada, the highest peak in the Dolomites at 3,343 metres.

After a couple of hours, we reached Roberta’s refuge and settled down for some lunch, including the most amazing beetroot dumpling stuffed with gorgonzola, and a beer or two.

Roberta has managed Roda de Vael since 2005. Previously a snowboard instructor, running a refuge was a dream she shared with her husband, who sadly passed away a few years after they took over the refuge.

Despite the personal tragedy, this extremely impressive woman has raised her family here and become the president of the Mountain Hut Association of Trentino.

There are some 145 huts in the region, some belonging to the Alpine Club and others privately owned. Traditionally, managing a mountain hut was seen as a male job, but now Roberta says there are about ten women running the refuges. Clearly, she feels at home here.

“The mountains are my family,” she says. “I belong to the mountains.” In recent years she has seen an increase in the number of people visiting the area, adding that everyone is trying to do their best to reduce the damage to nature. She has introduced solar panels to reduce their own carbon footprint. She advises everyone who comes here to “slow down and respect nature.”