Like Serre Chevalier, but in Italy: the easy miles travel, the bite softens

Our matching puts Alta Badia nearest to Serre Chevalier of the Italian resorts we cover, and the easy end is where it shows. There are 76.4 kilometres of blue and easier, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, against your 91.4 of green and blue. Forty percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against your 38, the joint fourth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and the blues average 14.4 percent against your 16.8. Our guide describes the runs as wide, sunny and carefully groomed, so the sun on your list comes along too.

Our one line for it is gentle Dolomite cruising and world class mountain food, and families sit on its list beside cuisine and the Sella Ronda. Its own sector is 130 kilometres; from a base on the Sellaronda, around 500 is within reach by lift, our own approximate sum, which Dolomiti Superski does not publish. The 1,200 on the Dolomiti Superski pass is twelve areas, only four of them joined.

The bite goes. Only 15 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 27, the reds average 21.7 percent against your 24.9, and there are 7.5 kilometres of black against 16.7. Our guide says it plainly: committed thrill seekers will find it gentle.

So does some height. The village is 218 metres higher than yours, at 1,568, but the skiing stops at 2,509 by our measurement, 242 below your top, and 65 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800, against 72. It clears our snow sure test with nine metres to spare at the top. It is tagged family, not quiet, though our guide describes relaxed evenings. You fly to Venice or Innsbruck.

If what you love is the mountain itself, Cortina is closer than you might expect. Half of Cortina's piste sits above 2,019 metres; half of yours sits above 2,020. At both, 52 percent is above 2,000 metres. Sixty seven percent is at or above 1,800, against your 72, and the highest piste we measure is at 2,724 metres, 27 below your top, with the lifts going on to 3,028. On our measure it is snow sure.

The mix is close as well. Twenty five percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 27, and 36 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 38. The reds are kinder, 21.9 percent against your 24.9, but the blacks average 32.5, steeper than your 27.8, and there are 9.2 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, against your 1.7.

The trade is size, and the way it fits together. We measure 85.5 kilometres of piste around the town, against your 152.7, with 38.2 of blue and easier, and our data does not confirm an area figure. Our guide is clear that Cortina's ski areas are not all linked to one another, so the ski bus or a car becomes part of the day. The mood changes too. Cortina is Dolomite drama and Italian style, host of the 2026 Games, stylish and scenic by our read and tagged upmarket where you are tagged quiet; our guide describes a historic town with a pedestrian main street. It sits at 1,224 metres, 126 below your village. You fly to Venice or Innsbruck.

Of the three, Val Gardena measures nearest to your size: 145.2 kilometres of piste around the valley, against your 152.7, with 16.4 kilometres of black, near level with your 16.7. It is a classic Dolomite valley on the Sella Ronda, scenic and traditional by our read, listed for the Sella Ronda, its scenery and its woodcarving, and tagged traditional rather than quiet. Its own sector is 175 kilometres, on the same Sellaronda network as Alta Badia.

It skis far more gently than yours. 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, against your 24.9. On the map only 42.4 kilometres is blue and easier, but those reds are barely steeper than your blues, at 16.8.

Height is unsettled. The lifts reach 2,731 metres, 20 below your top, and 66 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800. The highest piste we measure, though, stops at 2,480 metres. Our snow sure test wants the skiing to reach 2,500, and only the lifts do, so we leave the call open. The village, at 1,563 metres, is 213 above yours. You fly to Innsbruck or Verona.