Used to Switzerland? The Italian ski resorts that keep the view and the village
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20269 min read
We ski Switzerland. Zermatt most winters, St Moritz when we want a little polish, Grindelwald when the children come too. What we love is a village that was a place long before it was a resort, a mountain that fills the window, and pistes that turn out kinder than their colours. This year we want Italy, for the lunches and the light. But we are not swapping a real village for one that was built for the lifts.
If that is you, go to Cortina d'Ampezzo. It is a town first and a resort second, upmarket by our read, with the Dolomites standing over the main street, and our matching puts it closer to more Swiss resorts than any other Italian one. What it asks you to give up is height at the door and a ski area that joins up. If it is the mountain you cannot leave rather than the village, Cervinia is Zermatt's own lift system, seen from the Italian side.
How we got there
We started from the Swiss resorts a UK regular most likely knows: Zermatt, St Moritz, Verbier and Grindelwald. Then we went through all ten Italian resorts we cover, asking what a regular of those four would miss: a village with a life of its own, scenery that does the talking, and pistes gentler than their colours.
Our matching, which weighs measured terrain, altitude, size and character, agrees. It names Cortina as the closest Italian resort to seven of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, Zermatt and Verbier among them, more than any other. It leaves Cervinia off Zermatt's list only because the two share their lifts. We have put it back.
The Swiss resorts are on this table as your yardstick, not as options.
| Resort | Village | Top of the skiing, measured | Ski area | Steeper than one in four | Piste at or above 1,800 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zermatt | 1,620 m | 3,869 m, a station shared with Cervinia | 322 km measured with Cervinia | 12% | 99% |
| St Moritz | 1,822 m | 3,266 m | Separate mountains, about 106 km measured | 24% | 97% |
| Grindelwald | 1,034 m | 2,496 m | 150 km from its own lifts | 15% | 59% |
| Cortina d'Ampezzo | 1,224 m | 3,028 m, top of the lifts | Sectors not all linked, 86 km measured | 25% | 67% |
| Cervinia | 2,050 m | 3,869 m, the same station | 322 km measured with Zermatt | 15% | 99% |
| Val Gardena | 1,563 m | 2,731 m, top of the lifts | 175 km of its own, on the Sella Ronda | 13% | 66% |
| Madonna di Campiglio | 1,550 m | 2,496 m | 155 km, three sectors, all linked | 18% | 61% |
Cortina d'Ampezzo: the closest on the town, not on the height
- VillageVillage
- 1,224 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,939 m
Cortina d'Ampezzo: 86 km of piste we measure. 38 km blue and easier 45%38 km red 45%9 km black 11%
Plus 9 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
Cortina wins on what happens off the snow. It is a historic town, not a resort built for the lifts, with a pedestrian main street, the Corso Italia, of shops, delicatessens and cafés, and evenings that start with an aperitivo. Our read of it is stylish, scenic and upmarket. It hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 and the 2026 Games, and the Dolomites around it make a skyline to rival the Matterhorn.
The skiing will feel familiar to a St Moritz regular: 25 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 24 at St Moritz, and the reds average 21.9 percent against 21.0. So will the layout: its sectors, Tofana, Faloria and Cristallo, are not all joined by lift, so a bus or a car links them, much as you travel between St Moritz's mountains. We measure 86 kilometres of piste around the town.
The trade is height. The town sits at 1,224 metres, 396 below Zermatt and 598 below St Moritz, though above Grindelwald. The lifts reach 3,028 metres by our measure, the second highest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, but that is a lift top; the highest piste we measure is at 2,724. It is snow sure on our measure, with less in hand: 67 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 97 at St Moritz and 99 at Zermatt.
Cervinia: Zermatt's mountain, from the sunny side
- VillageVillage
- 2,050 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,883 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 322 km
Cervinia: 116 km of piste we measure. 24 km blue and easier 21%83 km red 72%8 km black 7%
Plus 8 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
Cervinia is the other end of Zermatt's lifts: one cross border area, marketed at 360 kilometres, which we measure at 322. The top of the skiing is the Klein Matterhorn station the two share, at 3,869 metres by our measure, joint highest of the 55 resorts we cover. It is reached over the Swiss side, the Zermatt half of the area needs the International pass, and the high crossing can close in wind.
What feels like home is the mountain's temperament. Fifteen percent of Cervinia's piste is steeper than one in four, against 12 at Zermatt, the lowest share of any resort we cover. Its reds average 18.1 percent against Zermatt's 17.2, and its blacks 28.0, exactly Zermatt's figure. It is higher at the door, too: the village sits at 2,050 metres, the highest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, and above St Moritz, the highest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. And it is snow sure on our measure by as much as Zermatt: 99 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres.
Around the village we measure 115.8 kilometres of piste. Sources for the Italian side range from 104 to 150, so treat any one figure as approximate.
The trade is the village. Our own guide is frank that it was built for the skiing rather than for show, and it is nothing like Zermatt's car free street. Book it for the snow, the long sunny reds and the Matterhorn from its other face.
Val Gardena: the gentlest pistes we measure in Italy, for a Grindelwald regular
- VillageVillage
- 1,563 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,518 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 500 km about, our sum
Val Gardena: 145 km of piste we measure. 42 km blue and easier 29%87 km red 60%16 km black 11%
If you go to Grindelwald for a traditional valley and runs that never frighten anyone, look here. Our read of Val Gardena is scenic and traditional, with a woodcarving tradition of its own, rather than smart.
Underfoot it will feel like Grindelwald. Only 13 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the lowest share of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, against Grindelwald's 15. Its reds average 17.3 percent and its blacks 26.1, both the gentlest of the Italian resorts we cover, against Grindelwald's 18.3 and 25.3.
It is bigger and higher at the door. We measure 145.2 kilometres of piste around the valley, against 131.7 around Grindelwald, and the village is at 1,563 metres, 529 higher. Val Gardena's own sector is 175 kilometres, and from its place on the Sella Ronda around 500 kilometres is reachable by lift, an approximate figure summed from measured kilometres, not one Dolomiti Superski publishes.
On snow, 66 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 59 at Grindelwald. That makes it snow sure on our measure, just: the skiing passes our 2,500 metre line only at the top of the lifts, 2,731 metres, and the highest piste we measure is 2,480.
Alta Badia, across the Sella, is the same circuit from the next valley: choose it if lunch matters more to you than tradition.
Madonna di Campiglio: St Moritz's polish, in one linked area
- VillageVillage
- 1,550 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,580 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 155 km
Madonna di Campiglio: 115 km of piste we measure. 54 km blue and easier 47%44 km red 38%17 km black 15%
Our matching puts Madonna di Campiglio closer to St Moritz than any other resort we cover, in any country. It is upmarket, smart and sociable by our read, with a largely pedestrian centre, a serious aperitivo hour, immaculate grooming and a following that goes back to the Habsburg era.
It does one thing St Moritz cannot: its 155 kilometres run across three sectors, all linked by lift. And it is kinder. Only 18 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 24; the blues average 12.9 percent against 16.4; and there are 53.8 kilometres of blue and easier against 30.0. It still has 17.3 kilometres of black, against St Moritz's 15.7.
The question is height. The village is at 1,550 metres, 272 below St Moritz, and the skiing tops out at 2,496 metres by our measure, 770 below yours and exactly Grindelwald's measured top. Of the piste we measure, 61 percent is at or above 1,800 metres, against 97. That puts Madonna right on the line of our snow sure test, a call we have not made. If the snow is why you go to St Moritz, think hardest about this one.
Your reds will feel the same. Your blacks will not
Grade colours are set resort by resort, to conventions that differ between countries, so a Swiss red and an Italian red are not the same promise. We measured the runs themselves, from the gradient of every piste we hold:
| Average gradient | Blue | Red | Black |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 15.0% | 19.9% | 26.7% |
| Italy | 14.4% | 20.4% | 30.2% |
Swiss reds are the gentlest of the four countries we cover, and Italy's come next: half a point steeper, with blues a little gentler. Neither will surprise you. The blacks will. An Italian black averages 30.2 percent, three and a half points steeper than a Swiss one, and Courmayeur's blacks average 36.4, the steepest of the Italian resorts we cover and the fourth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover.
The steep share says the same. Engelberg is the steepest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover on that measure, with 31 percent of its piste steeper than one in four. Four of the ten Italian resorts we cover have more: Kronplatz, Livigno, Bormio and Courmayeur. Our picks come from the gentle half of Italy, which is why they will feel like home; of them, Cortina's blacks, at 32.5 percent, are the ones to respect. This is average gradient, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, not its average.
Bring one Swiss habit with you: read brochure figures with care. Verbier's 410 kilometres is a pass, and its own area measures about 97 kilometres. Dolomiti Superski's 1,200 is Italy's version, a pass across twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift. A very good pass, but not a ski area.
Who should ignore all of this
Verbier regulars who go for the off piste and the nights.
Verbier has 25.9 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the second most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover; the most at any Italian resort we cover is Sestriere's 10.8. Livigno is the only Italian resort we cover that we would call lively. For off piste, Courmayeur, on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, is the expert's pick.
Davos regulars who go for the size.
Sestriere has the most piste we measure of the Italian resorts we cover, 159.8 kilometres, and a village at 2,035 metres, and our matching names it the closest Italian resort to Davos. It is purpose built and practical rather than a town, so it is not a pick here; if size and height matter more than the village, start there.
Anyone for whom car free is the point.
None of the ten Italian resorts we cover is. Cortina's main street and Madonna's centre are pedestrian, which is as close as it gets.
So, which one
the village is what you will not give up: a real town with style, the Dolomites overhead, and skiing with St Moritz's temperament, in exchange for a lower town and sectors joined by bus.
you ski Zermatt and the mountain is the point: the same lifts, the same gentle reds, and a higher village, practical rather than pretty.
you ski Grindelwald for gentle runs in a traditional valley: the gentlest pistes we measure in Italy, more of them, and the Sella Ronda to explore.
you want St Moritz's polish with a ski area that joins up and kinder blues, and you will accept a lower top to get it.
Of everything a Swiss week gives you, it keeps the most of what matters off the snow, and on the snow it asks you to give up less than the height of its town suggests.