"We must remain open, for our customers and to keep hope": at 57 years old, Paul Servel, owner of the Auberge Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, wants to hold out at all costs and stay in this preserved end of the world of the Roya valley.

On this sunny winter afternoon, Paul shuttles back down to the "regulars" who had lunch at the hotel and pick up a family and their two children.

Despite "32 covers this afternoon, we are barely covering our costs at the moment, and without our cash, we could not keep up," he says.

When asked what keeps him going, this former "musher" - driver of a sled pulled by a team of dogs - cannot hold back his tears: "Rethinking the disaster is very hard".

Since the exceptionally violent floods of October 2, 2020 which left 10 dead and eight missing in the Alpes-Maritimes and destroyed many roads, life in Castérino, a hamlet without commerce where seven inhabitants live a year, has become very complicated.

Besides the collapse in the number of visitors, supply is a headache.

This summer, the hotelier had to have gas cylinders delivered by helicopter to heat the hotel.

Paul Servel, 57, owner of the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine inn, on his tracked quad, December 30, 2021 Piero CRUCIATTI AFP

Beside, the three other hostels preferred to stop the costs.

André Boulanger and his wife Nathalie, at the head of the Hôtel des Mélèzes since 1990, have lowered the curtain.

“We opened up a bit this summer, but it didn't come to many people,” says André.

"We closed on November 1 because we have no more gas and we can no longer heat and it would not be profitable".

At this rate, despite the aid received to deal with the Covid epidemic, Mr. Boulanger, 63, estimates that he will hold out "three to four months maximum and then it's over".

"After I do what? I will have to put myself in liquidation and I stop everything. And in Castérino I am not the only one, everyone suffers", he adds.

André Boulanger and his wife Nathalie in front of their hotel in Mélèzes, December 30, 2021 Piero CRUCIATTI AFP

Because according to the latest forecasts from the Alpes-Maritimes departmental council, the access road, the rehabilitation of which will cost 25 million euros, should not be reopened before the end of next summer, which still means a lost summer season for hoteliers.

"It was Canada"

In this preserved end of the world, which only became French in 1947, where the wolf found a sanctuary in the Mercantour park, Castérino is a little gem with its wooden and stone chalets.

From there, hikers access the Vallée des Merveilles, rich in more than 40,000 prehistoric rock engravings.

Casterino, "it was Canada, with the winter of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing and the summer of hiking and tree climbing, but the situation there is still catastrophic whereas in the whole of the valley, we are resurfacing ", laments Jean-Pierre Vassallo, in his town hall of Tende, on which the hamlet depends, while welcoming the" enormous efforts "of the authorities.

The mayor of Tende, Jean-Pierre Vassallo, December 30, 2021 Piero CRUCIATTI AFP

"The people who stay up there have an extraordinary will, but I am very worried about them. There are four establishments which were open all year round, which had repercussions on the whole of economic life and tourism in Roya because when Castérino turns, the whole valley turns ", he adds.

Prefect delegate in charge of the reconstruction of valleys ravaged by bad weather, Xavier Pelletier says he is "attentive" to the situation and assures AFP that Castérino "no activity would be in a critical accounting situation".

"Bercy is still studying prospects to support the hotel business," he adds.

The frozen river near Casterino, December 31, 2021 Piero CRUCIATTI AFP

Paul Servel offers a solution: "We need an envelope of around 500,000 euros" so that all the establishments of Castérino "hold until the reopening of the road in November 2022".

In the meantime, he is delighted to be full for New Year's Eve and concludes: "We will not let go".

© 2021 AFP