Breakdown of Le nostre sciarpe sono nella baita, e quelle di Maria sono là.
essere
to be
e
and
quello
that
là
there (far away)
Questions & Answers about Le nostre sciarpe sono nella baita, e quelle di Maria sono là.
Why do we use quelle here instead of just saying something like le di Maria?
English can show possession by simply saying "Maria's", but Italian requires a demonstrative pronoun to stand in for the missing noun. Here, quelle literally means "those". You are essentially saying "...and those of Maria are there."
Why does it have to be quelle and not quelli?
The demonstrative pronoun must match the gender and number of the noun it replaces. Since it replaces sciarpe (scarves), which is feminine plural, you must use the feminine plural form quelle.
A quick refresher: why is it Le nostre sciarpe and not just Nostre sciarpe?
In Italian, possessive adjectives almost always require a definite article before them. Since sciarpe takes the article le, it becomes le nostre sciarpe. The main exception is with singular close family members, like mia madre, which drop the article.