The facility is located at 2,796 m near the Monte Moro pass, which is one of the historic Alpine passes. It is situated just a little below the arrival station of the cable car that rises from Macugnaga, next to the ski trails and opposite the magnificent east wall of Monte Rosa.

It is located 10 minutes from the ridge bordering Switzerland and is a stopover point on the Monte Rosa-Cervino Tour, the Great Walser Trail, and the Grand Italian Trail.

The refuge, belonging to the Macugnaga Municipality and entrusted by the latter to the local Italian Alpine Club, bears the names of Paolo Maroli, a young person who died prematurely, and the guide Gaspare Oberto, active in the 1920s and 1930s in the Rosa group and in Patagonia with an expedition of Father De Agostini.