Ski resorts in Italy

The American team trains here. Alpe Cimbra is an official training base for US Ski and Snowboard, and Ted Ligety, Tommy Ford, Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn and Alexis Pinturault have all worked these slopes, because the snow quality and the preparation hold up to it. The Folgaria and Lavarone carousel in Trentino counts 104 kilometres and 50 runs across every grade. The 2025 and 2026 season opened a new gondola between Francolini and Sommo Alto. There is more here than downhill. Cross country, touring, freeride, fatbiking and dog sledding all belong to the regular offering.

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A Ladin speaking valley in the Dolomites where five quiet villages sit beneath some of the most theatrical rock scenery in Europe. Corvara is the hub, San Cassiano and La Villa are smaller and smarter, and Colfosco and Badia are quieter again. The skiing is easier than the scenery suggests. Wide and immaculate blue and red runs cover most of the area, and the Sellaronda circuit around the Sella massif is achievable by any competent intermediate. The route past the Lagazuoi is the other classic, and it finishes with a horse drawn tow along a flat valley floor. Lunch is a genuine reason to plan the day here. Several kitchens on the slopes are worth reserving in advance, and the local cooking sits somewhere between Italian and Austrian without being either. Hotels are family run, comfortable and expensive without being showy, and most include half board with food that justifies it. Evenings are quiet. The area is part of Dolomiti Superski, so a week gives you far more ground than you can cover.

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Long winters and temperatures that keep the snow coming. Aprica sits on a pass between two Lombardy valleys, which gives it sun from both sides. There are 50 kilometres of piste suited to beginners and confident skiers alike, and the cross country trails run through genuinely protected country rather than along the road. The Palabione gondola climbs to 1700 metres, and there is an alpine wildlife observatory in the village worth an afternoon.

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At 1602 metres at the foot of the Sella group, and one of the more characteristic mountain villages in the Alps. Small, gathered, without a hotel strip. The terrain faces north towards Porta Vescovo, which keeps the snow here in better shape than in several neighbouring valleys. Strong skiers have long treated Arabba as the serious option within a Dolomiti Superski pass that is otherwise known for broad and forgiving pistes. Both the Sellaronda circuit and the Marmolada glacier start from the doorstep.

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The biggest ski area in the Apennines and the closest one to Florence, which makes for the rare holiday that fits skiing and Renaissance painting into the same week. Monte Gomito reaches 1900 metres, and the Val di Luce side behind it is where stronger skiers head. The gondola from Casa Cantoniera up to Gomito runs all year. Tuscany is not the first place anyone thinks of for snow, and that is exactly why the pistes stay quiet while the rest of Italy queues.

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One of the four sectors of Mondolè Ski in Piedmont, above the Val Casotto, joined by lift to Prato Nevoso and Frabosa. It sits in the Maritime Alps close to the Ligurian coast, which is an unusual position for a ski area of this size. The skiing is broad, sunny and mostly intermediate, spread across open slopes with a decent range of easy terrain and a snow record helped by moist air coming off the Mediterranean. Turin is around an hour and a half away and the sea is closer still. The base is a compact modern development rather than an old village. Prices are moderate, the crowds are light outside Italian holiday weeks, and the Piedmontese cooking in the valley below is a reason to stay for dinner.

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Easy to reach. Fifty minutes from Turin by motorway, an international TGV station in town, an hour by train from Turin and two from Milan, and an hour from the airport. Few places in the Alps sit this well for a long weekend without a car. It is a proper Piedmont mountain town rather than a resort with houses attached, and it held the snowboard events at the Turin Winter Olympics in 2006. The lift pass reaches into the Vialattea, which runs on towards Sestriere and across into France. Campo Smith sits right in town, so the distance between breakfast and the first lift is short.

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Three sectors in the heart of the Val di Fassa at the foot of the Sella massif. Belvedere rises above Canazei, Col Rodella above Campitello, and the lifts at Passo Pordoi complete the set. This is where the Sellaronda begins, the circuit around the massif that you ski in a day and finish where you started. The Dolomites are a UNESCO World Heritage site and it shows. The rock towers look like nothing else in Europe and they stay in front of you all day. The pass is Dolomiti Superski, which opens one of the largest linked areas anywhere. Ladin is still a living language in this valley. The villages under the lifts have kept a culture that resembles neither the Italian nor the Austrian Alps.

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A long, steep, uninterrupted descent of nearly 1800 vertical metres from Cima Bianca down to the town, which is a rarity in the Alps and the reason strong skiers come here. The Stelvio course on this face holds World Cup downhills and hosted the men's alpine events at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The skiing is mostly red and demanding, though there is easier ground at the top and a gentle area for beginners. Bormio itself is a real Lombard town with a medieval centre and Roman thermal baths still in use. Bathing in them after a day on that descent is one of the better combinations available in the Alps. Livigno and Santa Caterina are on the same regional pass, and the Stelvio pass above the town is one of the great alpine roads in summer.

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Madonna di Campiglio is one of the most elegant resorts in Italy, in a bowl beneath the Brenta Dolomites, which stand apart from the main Dolomite range and look quite different because of it. The skiing is immaculately groomed and mostly intermediate, spread across several linked sectors including Pinzolo and Folgarida Marilleva, with the Canalone Miramonti race piste dropping straight towards the village. The town has an old Habsburg connection, since the Austrian court holidayed here, and it still runs a costumed ball in period dress each winter that is more serious than it sounds. Hotels are comfortable and expensive, the shopping is real, and the evening passeggiata is part of the day. The Adamello Brenta nature park surrounds the whole valley.

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A ski area on the Costalunga pass in South Tyrol beneath the Latemar and facing the Rosengarten, two of the most striking rock walls in the Dolomites. The terrain is mostly intermediate with wide well groomed runs and a good beginner area, and it is part of Dolomiti Superski while sitting well away from the busy Sella circuit. The Karersee below, a small lake that reflects the Latemar, is among the most photographed places in the Alps. The area has made a point of environmental certification and quiet family skiing. Bolzano is around forty minutes away.

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Probably the most beautiful setting of any ski town in the world, an old aristocratic resort sitting in a bowl of vertical Dolomite rock. The pedestrian Corso Italia is for walking, being seen and shopping, and the evening passeggiata is a genuine ritual. The skiing is spread over three separate mountains with a bus between them, which costs time each day. It is sunny, well groomed and mostly intermediate, with the Olympic downhill and the Tofana faces for stronger skiers. Come for the setting and the town as much as for the slopes. Grand hotels, rifugi and apartments, expensive by Dolomite standards. Lunch on a rifugio terrace is part of the point. There is a bobsleigh run, and the Cinque Torri has an open air First World War museum built into the old front line.

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The Tofane sector above Cortina d'Ampezzo, reached by cable car from the edge of town. It is the mountain that hosts the women's World Cup downhill every January, and race week books out early. The skiing is long sunny descents on wide immaculately groomed pistes, and the Olympia delle Tofane course is open to the public for most of the season. Confident intermediates get the most from it, and there is a good beginner area at the Socrepes end. You stay in Cortina itself and ride up, so the town is your base, with grand hotels, apartments and a pedestrian centre built for the evening walk. Lunch on the Ra Valles terrace is worth planning for if the weather holds.

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A quiet cross border area in the eastern Dolomites, running from Sesto and San Candido in South Tyrol towards the Austrian frontier, named after the three rock towers that stand above it. The towns are bilingual, the food culture is strong and there are very few foreign visitors. The skiing is well groomed, sunny and mostly intermediate, with a cross border link that gives a real sense of an outing rather than laps. It is part of the Dolomiti Superski pass but sits a long way from the busy Sella circuit, so the pistes stay quiet. The cross country skiing in the Fiscalina and Sesto valleys is superb and worth taking lessons for even if you have never tried it. Family run hotels serve half board that is a genuine reason to stay in, at prices moderate for the Dolomites. Quiet evenings, good bakeries, and a spa in most hotels.

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Part of the Alpe Cimbra area in Trentino, on a plateau above the Adige valley, with a large number of lifts serving a compact and gentle mountain. The terrain is well groomed and mostly intermediate with strong beginner areas, and the whole plateau is aimed at families rather than at people chasing steeps. The area is an official training base for the US Ski and Snowboard team, which says something about the snow quality and the preparation. Folgaria is a working Trentino town with a Cimbrian linguistic heritage, and Trento and Rovereto are both within easy reach in the valley below.

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Two linked resorts on the Val di Sole side of the Brenta group in Trentino, joined by lift to Madonna di Campiglio, which gives a large shared area on one pass. The skiing is mostly intermediate with long descents through larch forest and good snowmaking, and the link over to Campiglio is a proper day out. Marilleva is built on several levels and Folgarida is more of a village, and both are considerably cheaper than Campiglio over the ridge while sharing the same slopes. The Val di Sole below has a railway line, a strong local food tradition and the Stelvio national park at its head.

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A sunny mountain above Steinhaus in the Ahrntal, the long valley that runs up towards the Austrian border in the far north of South Tyrol. It shares a pass with Speikboden across the valley. The skiing is well groomed and mostly intermediate, with a long descent back to the valley floor and a strong snow record thanks to the altitude and the northern latitude. The area is quieter than the big Dolomite names further south. The valley is German speaking and the food follows suit, with dumplings and speck rather than pasta. The Klausberg Flying Fox and a long summer toboggan run add something for the days off the skis, and Bruneck with its walled old town is half an hour down the valley.

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A rounded mountain standing alone above the Puster valley in South Tyrol, with villages scattered around its base and Bruneck, a proper walled town, at its foot. The lift system is among the most modern in the Alps and the grooming is close to obsessive. Wide, immaculate, mostly intermediate pistes run in every direction from a flat summit, with a couple of genuinely steep descents for people who want them. It is excellent for families and improvers. At the summit there is a Messner Mountain Museum designed by Zaha Hadid, built into the rock, and it is worth an hour of anyone's day. Hotels with half board and spas are good value for the Dolomiti Superski pass they include. Stop for lunch on the mountain, because South Tyrolean cooking is the best reason to.

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One of the quietest large areas in the Alps. You can ski all day at the end of the season and barely queue for anything. La Thuile is a former mining village on the Italian side of the Little St Bernard pass, linked by lift to La Rosière in France. The crossing and back is a proper day out with lunch in another country, and the two sides have quite different weather, so one is often better than the other. The skiing is north facing, tree lined and snow sure, with long descents and a World Cup downhill course that suits confident intermediates and experts alike. Hotels and apartments cost well below the better known names in the Aosta valley. Aosta itself is worth a day for the Roman ruins and the market, there is a thermal bath at Pré Saint Didier twenty minutes away, and the Valdostana cooking is worth seeking out.

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A long high valley near the Swiss border with duty free status, which is why the main street is lined with shops selling perfume, watches, sunglasses and alcohol at prices you will not see elsewhere in the Alps. The village stretches across several kilometres, so where you book matters, and the free bus is worth using if you end up at the far end. The skiing is high, snow sure and sunny, with terrain on both sides of the valley. One side is for cruising and the other holds the parks and freestyle ground. It suits beginners and intermediates and stays reliable from December to April. Hotels, apartments and bed and breakfasts cost below most of the Alps once the duty free is counted. Eat where the Valtellina cooking is, because pizzoccheri and bresaola are local here rather than imported, and keep an afternoon for the thermal baths.

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The biggest ski area in the northern Apennines, on the highest peak between the Alps and the Sicilian volcanoes, in the mountains above Modena. Four linked sectors surround the mountain, so there is generally one side out of the wind and one side in the sun. The skiing is well groomed and mostly intermediate, with plenty of easy terrain, and it stays quiet compared with anywhere in the Alps. Snowmaking covers most of the area. The real argument for coming is the Emilian food in the villages below. This is the country of prosciutto, parmesan and balsamic vinegar, and the mountain restaurants take it seriously. Bologna and Modena are both within easy reach.

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A mountain in Carnia in the far northeast of Italy, better known to cyclists than to skiers because the road up is one of the hardest climbs in the Giro d'Italia. The ski area is modest but the terrain is varied with a good vertical, and it is very quiet because Carnia is well off the main tourist routes. The region has a strong local identity with its own Friulian language and a food tradition built on smoked ricotta and mountain cheese. Udine is around an hour and a half away and Austria and Slovenia are both close. Prices are low.

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Three valleys on the Italian side of Monte Rosa, joined by lift, and one of the great freeride areas of the Alps. Gressoney, Champoluc and Alagna share the pass, and skiing between them is a full day out. Alagna is the name that carries weight, because the terrain above it is steep, serious and largely unpisted, and it has drawn off piste skiers for decades. A guide is the right way to use it. The valleys are Walser country, settled centuries ago by German speakers who crossed the mountains, and the timber houses and the dialect still reflect that. The lift served pistes are mostly intermediate and pleasant, so the area works for a mixed group. Prices are well below the French and Swiss resorts on the other side of the same mountain.

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A mountain above Andalo in Trentino, with the runs on the western face looking down onto Lake Garda and the Brenta Dolomites standing opposite. The skiing is mostly intermediate with long descents, a good vertical and thorough snowmaking, and the area has been steadily modernised over the past decade. Andalo and Molveno below are family resorts with a lake, and Molveno has been voted the most beautiful in Italy more than once. Trento is around forty minutes away and the whole area is well set up for families, with prices below the Dolomiti Superski resorts further east.

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A ski area on a plateau in Friuli in northeastern Italy, above the Veneto plain, and the closest snow to Venice which is around ninety minutes away. The terrain is compact and mostly intermediate at around 1300 to 1800 metres, with thorough snowmaking and a good learning area. The plateau position gives long views south across the plain towards the Adriatic on clear days. Pordenone below is a working Friulian town, and the region has a strong food and wine tradition of its own. Prices are moderate and the crowds are largely regional.

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A ski area directly above Aosta, reached by a gondola that leaves from beside the railway station in the middle of the city. That is the appeal, because you can stay in a Roman city with theatres, gates and a proper food culture and be on the snow in twenty minutes without a car. The skiing is sunny and mainly intermediate with a big vertical, larch forest lower down and open terrain above, and a view across to Mont Blanc from the top. Pila itself is a small purpose built base, but staying in Aosta is much the more interesting option and the gondola runs all day. The Aosta valley pass covers several other resorts, and the food and wine in the valley are worth planning around.

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A high area straddling the border between Lombardy and Trentino at the Tonale pass, with a glacier above it that reaches close to 3000 metres and keeps the snow reliable well into spring. The pass itself is open and treeless with wide sunny intermediate skiing, and Ponte di Legno down the valley is a proper Italian town with an old centre and a gondola link up to the area. The Presena glacier is the reason the season runs long, and it is one of the more accessible places in Italy to ski in April. The Tonale pass was a front line in the First World War and there is an ossuary and a museum here. Prices are moderate and the crowds are largely Italian.

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The ski area above Limone Piemonte in the Maritime Alps, one of the oldest resorts in Italy and the closest real skiing to the Ligurian coast, which is around an hour and a half away. The terrain is wide and mostly intermediate with a decent vertical and larch forest on the lower slopes, and the snow record is helped by moist air coming up from the Mediterranean. Limone is a proper Piedmontese village with stone houses, a Saturday market and a railway station on the line from Turin to Ventimiglia, which makes arriving by train a genuine option. Turin is around ninety minutes away and the food in the valley is worth staying for.

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The biggest area in the Apennines south of Rome, in Abruzzo, and the main winter destination for Naples and the whole south of Italy. That gives it a completely different atmosphere from the northern resorts, louder and more social and busier at weekends. The terrain is wide, open and mostly intermediate across a high plateau, with good beginner areas and extensive snowmaking, which matters at this latitude. Roccaraso and Rivisondoli are working Abruzzese towns, and the food is the strong local kind that this region is known for. Prices are noticeably lower than in the Alps. The Maiella and Abruzzo national parks surround the area, with bears and wolves in them, and Sulmona down the valley is worth a visit.

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A resort beneath the Pale di San Martino, a wall of pale Dolomite rock that turns pink at sunset and is among the most photographed in the range. The skiing is spread across two areas either side of the village, plus the Passo Rolle above it, and it is mostly intermediate with wide well groomed runs and a good beginner area. The Tognola side gets the sun and the Ces side holds snow longer. It is on the Dolomiti Superski pass but sits well away from the Sella circuit, so the pistes are quieter than in the busier valleys. San Martino is an old resort with a long alpine climbing tradition and a settled Italian feel, and the Paneveggio forest nearby supplied wood for Stradivarius violins.

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A quiet, sunny sector of the Vialattea in Piedmont, sitting on a shelf above the valley between Cesana and Sestriere. It held the women's Olympic downhill in 2006 and the course is still there. The pistes are wide and well groomed, mostly intermediate, and noticeably emptier than Sestriere over the ridge because far fewer people stay here. The lift pass covers the whole Vialattea and reaches into France at Montgenèvre. The base is a compact purpose built village rather than an old settlement, with apartments and a couple of hotels and very little going on after dark. Turin is around an hour and a half away, and Cesana below has more life if you want an evening out.

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A small, quiet resort in the upper Valtellina beneath the Ortler massif, at the entrance to the Stelvio national park, and one of the most reliable places for snow in Lombardy because of the altitude. The Deborah Compagnoni piste here holds World Cup races and is named after the local skier who won three Olympic golds. The terrain around it is mostly intermediate, north facing and well groomed, with a long descent from the top station. There are only a handful of lifts, so this is a place for people who want quiet skiing rather than variety. Bormio is fifteen minutes away on the same regional pass and gives a bigger day. The village is small and traditional and the surrounding national park is the largest in the Italian Alps.

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A glacier area at the head of the Senales valley in South Tyrol, reaching over 3200 metres, with a funicular running up inside the mountain from the valley floor. The altitude makes it one of the most reliable areas in Italy for early and late season snow, and national teams train here through the autumn. The valley is where Ötzi the iceman was found in 1991, on the ridge above, and there is an archaeological centre in the valley about him. The skiing is mostly intermediate on open glacier terrain. Merano sits an hour away and the valley itself is quiet German speaking farming country.

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A ski area above the Reschen pass in the far north of South Tyrol, near the point where Italy, Austria and Switzerland meet, linked to Haideralm to form one area. The terrain is wide and sunny and largely intermediate with a good snow record from the altitude, and it stays very quiet compared with the Dolomite resorts further south. Below it lies the Reschensee with the church tower standing out of the water, which is the image most people know from this valley. The area shares arrangements with Nauders over the Austrian border. Prices are moderate and the valley is German speaking farming country.

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The largest high alpine meadow in Europe, a rolling plateau at around 1800 metres in South Tyrol with the Schlern and the Sassolungo standing over it. The terrain is gentle and wide, running across open pasture rather than down a mountainside, which makes it one of the best places in the Dolomites for beginners and for anyone who wants to cover ground without being frightened. The cross country network here is extensive and superb. The plateau is largely car free during the day, which keeps it quiet, and the light across the meadows in the afternoon is the reason photographers come. It is on the Dolomiti Superski pass, so the Sellaronda is available for a bigger day. The villages below at Kastelruth and Seis are German speaking and traditional.

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A ski area on the ridge between the Val di Fiemme and the Val di Fassa in Trentino, with Moena on one side and Bellamonte on the other. The terrain is mostly intermediate with wide well groomed runs and a long descent, and the Le Cune sector at the top gives the best views across to the Pale di San Martino and the Latemar. Alpe Lusia is part of Dolomiti Superski but sits away from the busy circuits, so the pistes stay quiet. The Val di Fiemme has a strong Nordic tradition and hosts World Cup cross country races, and the forests here supply tonewood for instrument makers.

A quiet Dolomite pass between Trentino and the Veneto, with Falcade and Moena in the valleys either side. It is small, Italian and family run, and a long way from the crowds on the Sella circuit, though the same Dolomiti Superski pass covers both. The skiing is wide and well groomed with excellent snowmaking, good beginner areas, and enough steeper terrain to keep confident skiers busy for a few days. Col Margherita at the top gives one of the better views in the range. The Marmolada glacier is within reach on the same pass and worth a day for the view down onto the ice. Family hotels with half board are a genuine part of the value here, at moderate Dolomite prices, though the best food is usually on the mountain at lunchtime.

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Three valleys around Monte Civetta in the Dolomites, with Alleghe, Selva di Cadore and Zoldo sharing a lift network beneath one of the most striking rock faces in the range. Alleghe sits on a lake formed by a landslide in the eighteenth century, which freezes in winter and is used for skating, and the village around it has kept an ordinary Italian life. The skiing is mostly intermediate and quiet, with long runs and remarkably few people compared with the Sella circuit an hour away. It is part of Dolomiti Superski, so a bigger day is always available. Prices are noticeably lower than in Cortina or Alta Badia, and the Civetta wall itself is the reason photographers come to this valley.

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A ski area at the head of the Valchiavenna in Lombardy, close to the Swiss border, with Madesimo as the main base and Campodolcino below it connected by cable car. The Canalone is the run people come for, a long steep natural descent that has a serious reputation in Italy, and the rest of the terrain is mainly intermediate with a good vertical and altitude up to nearly 2900 metres. The valley is known for its crotti, natural rock cellars used for ageing cheese and wine and now often restaurants. Milan is around two hours away and the Splügen pass into Switzerland is right above.

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A ski area in the far northeast of Italy where the country meets Austria and Slovenia, with a cable car climbing from the town to the Monte Lussari sanctuary at 1760 metres. The village at the top is a pilgrimage site with a church and a handful of houses, and skiing down from it is unlike anywhere else in the Alps. The area held a World Cup finals and the Giro d'Italia has finished here. The terrain is largely intermediate with a good vertical and a long descent to the valley. Three languages and three cuisines meet in this valley, and the Friulian food is worth staying for. Udine is around an hour away.

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A small, quiet area in the far eastern Dolomites near the Austrian border, with Padola and Santo Stefano di Cadore in the valley below. It is part of the Dolomiti Superski pass while sitting about as far from the crowded Sella circuit as it is possible to get. The skiing is sunny, well groomed and suited to families and improvers, with short queues and reasonable prices. The Val Comelico has kept an old Ladin and Alpine culture that is quite distinct from the tourist valleys. The cross country trails through the surrounding forest are extensive and well maintained, and the setting under the Dolomite peaks is as good as anywhere in the range. A place for a quiet week rather than a busy one.

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A Ladin speaking Dolomite valley with a string of villages sharing lifts and the vast Dolomiti Superski pass. Canazei at the head is the liveliest, Moena at the bottom is a real town with a market, and Campitello and Vigo sit between them. Bus links along the valley are good, so a car is unnecessary once you arrive. It is a hub for the Sellaronda, so a day touring around the Sella massif starts on the doorstep, and the Marmolada glacier is reachable on the same pass. The skiing throughout is wide and immaculately groomed and suits intermediates best. Family hotels with half board, plus apartments, at prices below Alta Badia over the pass. Lunch on a terrace somewhere is worth building the day around.

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A valley north of Sondrio in Lombardy running up towards the Bernina massif and the Swiss border, with the Snow Eagle cable car climbing from Chiesa in Valmalenco to the ski area above. The skiing is quiet and mostly intermediate with good snow reliability, and the setting beneath the Bernina peaks and the Scerscen glaciers is more dramatic than the size of the area suggests. It has a strong following among Milanese who come up for weekends. The valley is known for its serpentine stone, quarried here for centuries and used for the pietra ollare cooking pots that appear in local kitchens. Valtellina food and wine are the real reason to stay for dinner, and Sondrio in the valley is an easy base with a railway station.

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The lower half of the Italian side of the Matterhorn ski area, below Breuil Cervinia, and a working Valdostana village rather than a resort. The skiing here is part of the same system that climbs to Plateau Rosa and crosses to Zermatt, so the ground available on one pass is enormous, and the descent from the top all the way to Valtournenche is among the longest in the Alps. Staying here rather than in Cervinia costs a good deal less and puts you in a village with an ordinary Italian life going on. The Aosta valley below has Roman ruins, castles and a strong food and wine tradition.

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