Like Ischgl, but in Italy: which half can you keep?

Our matching puts Livigno nearest to Ischgl of all the Italian resorts we cover, and it is the only one of the three picks we would call lively. It starts and finishes the season when Ischgl does, late November to May, and it is duty free, which an Ischgl regular who has skied over to Samnaun for an afternoon's shopping will understand straight away. Innsbruck is one of its airports, as it is for Ischgl.

On snow it goes further than Ischgl. The village sits at 1,816 metres, 439 above Ischgl's and the eighth highest of the 55 resorts we cover. Every kilometre of piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, and no resort we cover has a bigger share. The skiing tops out at 2,767 metres, measured, 101 short of Ischgl's. Snow sure on our measure, and the snow starts at the front door.

What you give up is room. Livigno's ski area is 115 kilometres in two sectors that face each other across the valley with no lift between them, and we measure 81 kilometres of piste, about half of Ischgl's. There are 9 kilometres of black, a third of yours, and no marked itinerary in our data. It is steeper underfoot as well: 40 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the fifth highest share of the 55 we cover, and the blues average 17.8 percent, joint fourth steepest of the 55 we cover. A strong group will not mind. A nervous one has 25 kilometres of blue and easier, against Ischgl's 43.

If what you love about Ischgl is the long days, Sestriere is where Italy keeps them. We measure 160 kilometres of piste around the village, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover and 7.5 more than Ischgl. It also has the most black of the Italian resorts we cover, and the most marked itinerary: 10.8 kilometres, a whisker more than Ischgl's 10.6.

The shape is familiar. Nearly six kilometres in ten are red, 92 kilometres of them, and they average 21.1 percent, the nearest of the three picks to Ischgl's 20.7. The blues are gentler still, averaging 12.0 percent, the second gentlest of the 55 resorts we cover. And it is high: the village is at 2,035 metres, the fourth highest of the 55 we cover and 658 above Ischgl's, with 91 percent of the piste we measure above 1,800 metres, up to 2,788. Snow sure on our measure.

Sestriere sits on the Milky Way, the Via Lattea, which you will see quoted at 400 kilometres. Treat that as a marketing figure: it counts Montgenèvre, which the standard pass does not cover. Our 160 is the honest number for the week.

The trade is the evening. Sestriere is purpose built and practical by our read, modern rather than lively, and nobody goes there for the bars. The season runs December to April, shorter at both ends than Ischgl's, and 18 kilometres of black is a third less than you are used to.

The top of Cortina's lifts is 3,028 metres by our measure, 160 above Ischgl's top and the second highest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. The highest piste we measure stops lower, at 2,724 metres, 144 below Ischgl's, so the extra height is in the lifts, not the runs. It has 9.2 kilometres of marked itinerary, also second of the 10 Italian resorts we cover and close to Ischgl's 10.6, and the village, at 1,224 metres, is 153 below Ischgl's. It is snow sure on our measure, with 67 percent of the piste we measure above 1,800 metres.

The evenings exist, in a different key. Cortina is a stylish town rather than a resort village, and the night starts with an aperitivo and a stroll along the Corso rather than in ski boots at the bottom of the run. If your Ischgl nights have started to feel like hard work, that may be the point.

The skiing is smaller and split. Cortina's areas, Tofana, Faloria and Cristallo, are not all joined by lift, so the bus or a car is part of the day. It is on the Dolomiti Superski pass, 1,200 kilometres across twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift, and the Sella Ronda is a drive away. We measure 86 kilometres around the town and 9 kilometres of black. The blue and easier, 38 kilometres, is close to Ischgl's 43, and 36 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent against 30: by share, the gentlest mix of the three.