Skiing in Italy

In the Italian Alps there is a quiet phrase that circulates among the locals: “You ski in the morning, and at one o’clock you eat”. It is not a joke. Cortina d’Ampezzo does not understand why you would ski an interesting run on an empty stomach. The Sellaronda — the circular route linking Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Arabba and Canazei — is designed for three stops: one for a short coffee, one for a polenta concia, one for a tiramisù. You can finish the 40 km circuit if you want to. If not, it finishes at the third rifugio.

Cortina d’Ampezzo has the Dolomites, Olympic history (1956 and 2026) and boutiques where a cashmere jumper costs more than seven nights in the hotel below. Alta Badia has that sun bouncing off the pink Dolomite walls that makes you ski with your eyes half closed. Val Gardena still speaks Ladin — a language spoken by only 30,000 people in the world, half of whom will greet you in Italian or German first so as not to overwhelm you. Add Plan de Corones (Kronplatz), a mountain shaped like a cap with runs falling away like the spokes of a wheel.

Further west lies the Aosta Valley. Courmayeur, the Italian side of Mont Blanc, with a descent of the Vallée Blanche that is literally the same mountain as Chamonix but with a different ethic about food. Cervinia, whose Matterhorn is called Cervino when you look at it from this side, linked to Zermatt by cable car. La Thuile, joined to La Rosière in France, with runs that drop south and end near the vineyards of Morgex — probably the highest vineyard in Europe. Pila, looking down on Aosta from above.

And then the rest of the map: Livigno, high and duty-free, ideal for an affordable week with long, wide runs. Bormio, with its Roman thermal baths and its World Cup piste. Sestriere and Sauze d’Oulx on the Via Lattea, which stretches all the way into France. Madonna di Campiglio, among the Brenta Dolomites — upper-middle Italian elegance without Cortina’s theatre.

Anti-recommendation: Do not come to Italy looking for the largest possible ski area. Dolomiti Superski adds up to 1,200 km, but spread across 12 areas that do not always link. Come if it matters to you that every meal on the mountain is worth it, if the look of the rifugio matters as much to you as the quality of the piste, if you understand that skiing is a pretext for everything else.

The Italian Alps are eaten slowly. Literally.