Like Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, but in Italy: the long lunch and the big circuit travel

Our matching puts Alta Badia closer to Saint-Martin than any other Italian resort we cover, and the part that travels best is the one on Saint-Martin's own list: food. Alta Badia is gentle Dolomite cruising and world class mountain food, warm and welcoming by our read, and we list it for its cuisine, the Sella Ronda and families. Our guide makes the food the point of the place: Michelin starred kitchens in and around the villages, Ladin cooking in mountain huts that treat lunch as an event, and a gourmet ski safari from one mountain restaurant to the next.

It comes close on scale, too. Alta Badia's own sector is 130 kilometres. Base yourself on the Sellaronda and roughly 500 kilometres is within reach by lift, a figure we put together ourselves from measured kilometres across the linked areas, so it is approximate, and Dolomiti Superski does not publish it. Against the Three Valleys' quoted 600, call it a fair match. Leave the 1,200 on the Dolomiti Superski pass out of it: that covers twelve areas, and only four of them are joined.

Underfoot it asks even less of you than Saint-Martin does. Forty percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the joint fourth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, where yours is 36, and 15 percent is steeper than one in four, where yours is 20. The reds average 21.7 percent against your 21.9, near enough level, and the blues 14.4 against your 16.6. Of the 124.5 kilometres we measure around the valley, 76.4 is blue and easier, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover.

The trade is height at the top. Alta Badia's village, at 1,568 metres, is 118 above yours, but its skiing tops out at 2,509 on our measure, 182 short of yours, and 65 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800, where yours is 75. It clears our snow sure test, though only just: the top of the skiing is nine metres over the line. And it is tagged family rather than traditional or quiet, though our guide describes a string of Ladin speaking villages with relaxed evenings, and points anyone after calm to Colfosco or San Cassiano. You fly to Venice or Innsbruck.

If the old village matters more to you than the lunch, stay on the same circuit and change valley. Val Gardena is a classic Dolomite valley on the Sella Ronda, scenic and traditional by our read, and we list it for the Sella Ronda, its scenery and its woodcarving. It is the only one of the three tagged traditional, though not quiet. Its own sector is 175 kilometres, and it sits on the same Sellaronda network as Alta Badia.

On the gradient it is the gentlest of the three. Only 13 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the smallest share of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, and the reds average 17.3 percent, the gentlest reds of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. The map will not tell you that: only 42.4 kilometres is graded blue and easier. We measure 145.2 kilometres in all, the most of the three picks, with 16.4 kilometres of black against your 6.0.

Height is the open question. The lifts reach 2,731 metres, 40 above your top, and 66 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800. But the highest piste we measure is at 2,480 metres, short of the 2,500 our snow sure test asks for, so the call rests on the top of the lifts and we have not settled it. The village, at 1,563 metres, is 113 above yours. You fly to Innsbruck or Verona.

Madonna di Campiglio is elegant skiing beneath the Brenta Dolomites, smart and sociable by our read, listed for style, families and grooming, and tagged upmarket. It is the least like Saint-Martin in tone: our guide describes a pedestrian centre of smart shops and evenings built around the aperitivo.

On the slopes, though, it is close. Thirty six percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the same share as yours, and 18 percent is steeper than one in four, against your 20. The blacks are near level with yours, 30.2 percent against 30.9, and there are more of them: 17.3 kilometres, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. The area is one linked piece of 155 kilometres across three sectors, and we measure 115.1 around the village, 40 more than around Saint-Martin.

The village is 100 metres higher, at 1,550, and the skiing tops out at 2,496 by our measurement, 195 below yours, with 61 percent of the piste at or above 1,800. That sits just under the height our snow sure test asks for, and we have not made the call either way. You fly to Verona or Milan.