Like Megève, but in Italy: the same manners, higher up

Madonna is the Italian resort that behaves most like Megève. We class it as upmarket, as we do Megève, and it wears it the same way: smart rather than showy, with a pedestrian centre of good shops, long lunches in the mountain huts and an evening that turns on an aperitivo rather than a dance floor. It has been fashionable for more than a hundred years, since the Habsburg aristocracy found it. It is also a family resort by our read, which a Megève regular will recognise.

The skiing is one piece: three sectors, all linked by lift, 155 kilometres in all, and we measure 115 around the village. It is gentle where it counts. Eighteen percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against Megève's 20, and 36 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 32. Its reds average 19.7 percent and its blues 12.9, both kinder than Megève's 23.1 and 16.3. There are 54 kilometres of blue and easier and 17 of black, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover on both counts. And it is known for its grooming.

It sits higher, too. The village is at 1,550 metres, 437 above Megève, and 61 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, about four times Megève's share. The top is the catch: the skiing reaches 2,496 metres by our measure, only 94 above Megève's, and right on the line of our snow sure test, so we make no call on it either way.

What you give up is size and the hush. We measure 115 kilometres around the village against Megève's 189, there is no marked off piste itinerary at all against Megève's 5.2 kilometres, and our read on the place is smart and sociable rather than calm.

If the part of Megève you would miss most is the town, Cortina is the Italian answer. It is a historic town, not a purpose built resort, with a pedestrian main street of boutiques, delis and cafés, and a following of Italian families that goes back generations. It was an Olympic host in 1956, and again for the 2026 Games. We class it as upmarket, and our read puts style and long lunches at the top of what it does best. Its village is the nearest to Megève's in height, 1,224 metres, only 111 above.

The snow is where it pulls clear. The skiing reaches 3,028 metres by our measure, 626 above Megève's top and the second highest of the Italian resorts we cover, though that is the top of a lift. The highest piste we measure is at 2,724 metres, still 322 above Megève's top. It is snow sure on our measure: 67 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, and the piste top alone clears our 2,500 metre line.

The trade is the skiing itself. We measure 86 kilometres around the town, less than half of Megève's 189, and it is not one mountain: the areas are not all linked, so the ski bus or a car becomes part of the day. There are 38 kilometres of blue and easier, against Megève's 104 of green and blue. It is steeper, with 25 percent of the piste steeper than one in four, against 20, and blacks that average 32.5 percent, against Megève's 23.3, the gentlest blacks of the 17 French resorts we cover. The Dolomiti Superski pass reaches much further, but its 1,200 kilometres is a pass across twelve areas, only four joined by lift, and the Sellaronda is a drive away. Choose Cortina for the town and the lunch, with good skiing attached.

Our matching puts Val Gardena nearer to Megève than any other Italian resort we cover, and on the skiing it is right. It is one of the gentlest places we measure. Just 13 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against 20 at Megève: the second smallest steep share of the 55 resorts we cover. Forty percent is gentler than 15 percent, as large a share as any Italian resort we cover.

Do not read the piste map literally. Red is the colour you will see most, and blue and easier adds up to just 42 kilometres. But those reds average 17.3 percent, the kindest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover and only a point steeper than a typical Megève blue. A Megève cruiser will ski most of the valley.

It is bigger than it first looks, and higher. We measure 145 kilometres around the village, and its own sector is 175. Add the Sellaronda and our own rough sum of what you can reach by lift from a base there comes to around 500 kilometres, which no one officially publishes. The village is at 1,563 metres, 450 above Megève, and it is snow sure on our measure: 66 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to a lift top at 2,731 metres. That call leans on the lifts, though: the highest piste we measure is at 2,480 metres, 20 short of our 2,500 metre line.

What you trade is the manner. Val Gardena shares one of Megève's three traits, traditional, and misses the other two: it is a scenic Dolomite valley known for its woodcarving, not a smart, hushed one. There is less black, 16 kilometres against 23.