Cortina d'Ampezzo is a fashionable ski resort town located in the Veneto region of Italy, just a two hour drive from Venice. The area has been a winter sports mecca since the 1930s and even played host to the first Italian Winter Olympic Games in 1956. Known as the “Queen of the Dolomites”, it is one of the best-known ski resorts worldwide and hosts international sports events annually such as the Alpine Ski World Cup, the Tour de Ski, ice hockey and curling championships, and Cortina Winter Polo.
However, great skiing is not all the area has to offer, located in a particularly scenic part of the country, it is stunningly beautiful, there are plenty of restaurants and cafes in town offering delicious food, a vibrant nightlife and good shopping. This is the proper way to do a ski holiday in Italy so, if you're planning one, why not find a holiday rental in Cortina D'Ampezzo?
However, great skiing is not all the area has to offer, located in a particularly scenic part of the country, it is stunningly beautiful, there are plenty of restaurants and cafes in town offering delicious food, a vibrant nightlife and good shopping. This is the proper way to do a ski holiday in Italy so, if you're planning one, why not find a holiday rental in Cortina D'Ampezzo?
Cortina is well-equipped for skiing with a system of modern ski lifts and snowmaking capabilities that cover 90% of the slopes and which guarantee a ski season that stretches from November to April. In particular, there are great facilities for younger or newer skiers that might be a little more cautious or unstable. There are nearly 140 km of slopes and, due to its location on a broad meadow in the Ampezzo valley, between vast craggy mountains, it is sunny with great visibility.
There is also quite a few different activities to choose from as well as Alpine skiing, including freeride, ski mountaineering, Nordic ski, snowboard, ice hockey and much more. The area is also as popular in summer as in winter as the hills become hiking grounds which offer stunning views across the surrounding landscape.
There is also quite a few different activities to choose from as well as Alpine skiing, including freeride, ski mountaineering, Nordic ski, snowboard, ice hockey and much more. The area is also as popular in summer as in winter as the hills become hiking grounds which offer stunning views across the surrounding landscape.
The town itself is charming and distinctively Italian in character with cobbled streets, open squares and Alpine lodges mixed in with more classicising and Romanesque buildings as well. Its proudest moment remains hosting the Winter Olympics in 1956 and mementoes of this are dotted all around local streets and businesses. The Stadio del Ghiaccio (Ice Stadium), built for the Olympics, remains with its Olympic logo and basin for the Olympic flame and is still open as a public skating rink. The eighteenth-century parish church and its campanile are also worth a visit as are the modern art gallery, paleontology museum and local history museum, all housed in the one building. There is also an outdoor museum with three different locations in the mountains nearby, dedicated to the winter campaigns fought here in the Great War. Throughout the town you'll find boutiques with mountain clothing and local crafts and lots of restaurants and cafes that are less busy than the aprés-ski bars on the slopes.
For the ultimate skiing destination in Italy which has serious style, there is nowhere else quite like Cortina D'Ampezzo.
For the ultimate skiing destination in Italy which has serious style, there is nowhere else quite like Cortina D'Ampezzo.
Photo credits
Picture 2: Dirgela / CC BY-SA 3.0
Picture 2: Dirgela / CC BY-SA 3.0
