Like Davos, but in Italy: the town or the mountain?

Our matching puts Sestriere closest to Davos of all the Italian resorts we cover, and it carries over the most. It is the only one of the three we tag modern, as we tag Davos, and our read of it is high and practical, a purpose built resort on the Via Lattea, the Milky Way. Two of the three things it does best by our read are Davos's too: a big area and snow sure skiing.

The skiing measures up. Around the village we measure 160 kilometres, a little more than Davos's 145 and the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. There are 18 kilometres of black and 11 of marked itinerary, each also the most of the Italian ten. The area is linked, with one catch: the Via Lattea is sold as 400 kilometres, but that includes Montgenèvre in France, which needs the International pass. On the standard pass, our own subtraction puts it at roughly 305 kilometres. No source publishes that figure.

The snow comes from the base. The village is at 2,035 metres, 475 above Davos and the fourth highest of the 55 resorts we cover, and 91 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 78. It is snow sure on our measure, though the top is no higher: 2,788 metres, 20 below Davos's.

What you give up is the town, entirely. Sestriere is purpose built for skiing, and we hold nothing on it to set against Davos's town life. Underfoot it is a little steeper, 30 percent of the piste steeper than one in four against 23, and there are 49.8 kilometres of blue and easier against 62.5. Those blues are the gentlest of the Italian resorts we cover, though, averaging 12.0 percent, so the beginners are looked after.

If the half of Davos you would miss is the town, Cortina d'Ampezzo is the one. It is a historic Italian town rather than a resort, with the shops of the Corso Italia, an ice rink and a spa culture, rifugio lunches on the mountain, and a sporting past of its own as host of the 1956 Winter Olympics and one of the hosts of the 2026 Games. A non skier is as well off here as in Davos. Our read is stylish and scenic, best for Dolomites scenery, style and long lunches.

The skiing even works the way Davos's does. Tofana, Faloria and Cristallo are separate areas, reached by ski bus or car, so you pick a mountain each morning. On the measures that travel, it is close: 25 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 23, and there are 9 kilometres of marked itinerary. It is snow sure on our measure, 67 percent of the piste we measure at or above 1,800 metres, and its top lift reaches 3,028 metres, 220 above Davos's top and the second highest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, though that is a lift top above the highest piste we measure.

The catch is the amount. Cortina's own area is not classified in our data, and around the town we measure 86 kilometres, about three fifths of Davos's 145. There are 9 kilometres of black against 21. The town sits at 1,224 metres, 336 below Davos, and the feel is stylish rather than practical: we do not tag it modern. It is a Davos week for a group that values the evenings and the rest days as much as the skiing.

On two numbers, Val Gardena is almost a copy. Its village is at 1,563 metres, three above Davos, and we measure 145 kilometres of piste around it, within a kilometre of Davos's figure. Its own sector of the Dolomiti Superski is 175 kilometres, and it sits on the Sella Ronda, so from a base there around 500 kilometres is reachable by lift, approximately, by our own sum. The full 1,200 kilometre pass spans twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift, so treat that as a pass, not a ski area. Our read is scenic and traditional, a classic Dolomite valley.

It skis very differently, though. Only 13 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 23, the second smallest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and 40 percent is gentler than 15 percent, the joint biggest share of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. Its reds average 17.3 percent against Davos's 20.7. There are 16 kilometres of black and 3 of marked itinerary, against 21 and 13. Wonderful for a cruising group; thin for the Davos skier who lives on the Jakobshorn.

The snow is closer to the line. Sixty-six percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 78, and it counts as snow sure on our measure, just, with the top lift at 2,731 metres, 77 below Davos's top. We tag it traditional, not modern: a Dolomite valley, not a town of trams.