Like Arosa, but in Italy: the family week in one valley, the snow in another

Our matching ranks Alta Badia second of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, and of the three it is the one that keeps the family tag. Our read is warm and welcoming, gentle Dolomite cruising and world class mountain food, with cuisine, the Sella Ronda and families on its list. Our guide adds Ladin speaking villages, grooming it calls immaculate, and pale Dolomite towers that turn pink at dusk.

It is gentler than Arosa. Only 15 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 24, and 40 percent is gentler than 15 percent, the joint fourth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against 35. There are 76.4 kilometres of blue and easier, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, and the blues average 14.4 percent against Arosa's 15.4. On the snow, one figure carries straight over: 65 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the same share as Arosa's.

It is smaller around the village and bigger beyond it. We measure 124.5 kilometres around Alta Badia, against 183, and its own sector is 130. From a base on the Sellaronda, around 500 kilometres is reachable by lift, though that is our own approximate sum. The Dolomiti Superski pass covers 1,200 kilometres across twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift.

The trade is height. The village is at 1,568 metres, 232 below Arosa's, and the skiing stops at 2,509 metres by our measure, 339 below, which only just clears the 2,500 metres we look for before calling a resort snow sure. There are 7.5 kilometres of black against 14.5, and little marked itinerary. You fly to Venice or Innsbruck, and the evenings, by our guide, are calm.

Across all 55 resorts we cover, our matching puts Sestriere closest to Arosa, and on the snow it goes further. The village is at 2,035 metres, the fourth highest of the 55 resorts we cover and 235 above Arosa's. Ninety one percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 65, and 75 percent is above 2,000, against 38. It is snow sure on our measure, up to 2,788 metres, 60 below Arosa's top.

The size carries over too. The Via Lattea is sold as 400 kilometres, but the standard pass covers the Italian lifts only: roughly 305 kilometres on our own subtraction, since no source publishes an Italy only figure. Around Sestriere we measure 159.8 kilometres, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. Its share of gentle piste is the same 35 percent as Arosa's, and its blues average 12.0 percent: only one resort we cover has gentler blues. There are 10.8 kilometres of marked itinerary and 17.9 of black, each the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover.

The trade is the family feel and the middle of the mountain. We tag Sestriere modern, not family; our read is high and practical, a purpose built high resort on the Milky Way. There are 49.8 kilometres of blue and easier against your 97, and 92.0 of its 159.8 kilometres are red. Thirty percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 24. You fly to Turin.

Measured by gradient, Val Gardena is the gentlest of the three. Only 13 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against Arosa's 24; only one resort we cover has a smaller share. Forty percent is gentler than 15 percent, the joint fourth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover. Its reds average 17.3 percent, the gentlest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, against 21.8 for Arosa's reds and not far off the 15.4 of Arosa's blues. The size is close, too: its own sector is 175 kilometres, and we measure 145.2 around the valley, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover.

What you give up is the colour on the map and the family tag. Of those 145.2 kilometres, 86.5 are red and 42.4 blue and easier, so a child who skis by the colour of the sign will find fewer blues than at home. We tag Val Gardena traditional, not family; our read is scenic and traditional, a classic Dolomite valley on the Sella Ronda, best for the Sella Ronda, scenery and woodcarving. The village is at 1,563 metres, 237 below Arosa's. And the top needs a caution: the lifts reach 2,731 metres, but the highest piste we measure is 2,480, below the 2,500 we look for, so its snow sure call on our measure rests on the lift top. Sixty six percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres.