Ski Italy

Welcome to the Ski Italy page, providing a regular round-up of the skiing conditions and current snow reports for the main ski resorts in the Dolomites and Italian Alps. Over recent years some of the most favourable piste conditions throughout the season have been reported at Cervinia, Cortina, Val Senales, La Thuile and Livigno although in any given week or season the best slope conditions may be found at any of the other high Italian resorts or at lower elevation ski stations among the trees in poor weather.

For off-piste powder, resorts such as Selva Gardena, Livigno, Chiesa, Madesimo, Arabba have proven among the most consistent either for fairly regular snowfalls, northerly aspect or for not getting tracked out quickly but check out the reports below for the latest news.

Although there is excellent terrain for skiing and snowboarding in Italy, the scope for freeriding is a little limited because going into forbidden areas can land you with a €50 fine plus it is illegal to go off-piste without an avalanche beacon and rescue equipment. This policy means that secret snow spots are very well guarded but check out friendly snowboard shops for some useful advice.

While the snowfalls experienced by most Italian ski resorts are generally no match for those resorts on the northern side of the Alps they feature strongly in the record snowfall events for most seasons. Snowfalls of up to about 1m (3ft+) often occur during single storm events late in the Italian season and resorts including Cervinia, Madonna di Campiglio, La Thuile and the Monterosa ski stations (Gressoney, Alagna) commonly figure in those records. Italy is more temperate than its northern neighbours and the tree line often reaches over 2000m, which is great skiing or boarding in flat light.

Italy has one of the most diverse selections of ski areas of any country in the world with Italian ski resorts ranging from Courmayeur in the country’s North West by the slopes of Western Europe’s highest mountain, to ski areas on the slopes of Mount Etna on the southern island of Sicily in the Mediteranean.

You can ski Italy in almost every part of the country too, with resorts offering cross-border skiing in to Slovenia in the North East, as well as ski areas inland from Rome in the south of the central mainland and in the Apennine mountains further north.

There is a great variety in the types of resorts you’ll find when you’re skiing in Italy too.  One of the most famous areas, the Via Lattea, or Milky Way, in the North West of the country, was host to most of the on-snow events for the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. It includes cross border skiing to Montgenevre in France, is home to Sestrière (Via Lattea), which was one of the world’s first purpose built ski villages, created by the family than ran the Fiat car company in the 1930s, long before the first French purpose-built ski areas were constructed, and only a few decades after the first Italian ski resort started at Claviere (Via Lattea), another part of the Milky Way only a few kilometres away.

In the north eastern side of the country the Dolomiti Superski region contains more than 50 individual ski villages spread between a dozen valleys which together offer more than 1,200km of piste.  These resorts are however more like traditional Austrian villages on the whole, as much of the pass, which takes 25% of the entire Italian ski market on its own, is in an area called the South Tyrol which was once part of Austria.

The Dolomiti Superski area is one of the largest passes in the world and remains the biggest to offer a fully inter-changable lift pass from day one (larger coverage areas that have developed recently in Austria have more usage restrictions). It also contains the world’s second largest lift/piste inter-connected ski region after the 3 Valleys – the Sella Ronda. This is a famous 23km circuit around the huge Sella mountain massif from which valleys radiate off, such as the famous Val Gardena, as well as Badia – famous for its gourmet food, and Fassa. Altogether more than 500km of piste is linked, putting it ahead of the Milky Way.

Italian skiing is also famous for its value – typically 10 or 20% below the average price for resorts in each size category, and even more so for dining out and drinking on and off the mountain. The price saving is most marked on the shared ski area of Cervinia in Italy and Zermatt in Switzerland which can be skied for substantiually less if you buy your pass on the Italian rather than the Swiss side. You’ll also pay up to 75% less for a nice handmade espresso on the Italian side than for a self service machine produced beverage in Switzerland.

Mountain scenery is another Italian forte – from the rugged Alpine mountains of the Aosta Valley in the West to the spectacular pink precipices of the Dolomites, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
And there’s also that famous Italian sense of style epitomised by the country’s more exclusive resorts including Madonna di Campiglio and Cortina d’Ampezzo, but visible almost everywhere.
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Italy: latest snow conditions round-up


ITALY REPORT After the big snowfalls last week, the past seven days have been much drier across Italy. There have still been some snow showers, though mostly light. Spring temperatures have been climbing, though, reaching +15C in some lower valleys, although still getting below freezing overnight above 2,000m, so freeze-thaw conditions and best conditions are up high.

Most of Italy's larger areas remain open, and the majority have 75-100% of their runs still skiable as the easter holiday period nears. Cervinia (30/250cm / 12/100") has the most terrain accessible from Italy open with 300km (187 miles) of runs available, about 93% of the area it shares with Zermatt. Val Gardena (80/100cm / 32/40") has the largest single area open in the Dolomites, reporting all 181km (113 miles) of runs open.

Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in Italy. Fresh snow is forecast at 2 resorts. Powder is reported at 6 resorts and 8 are reporting good piste conditions.

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Recent Eyeball Snow Reports for Italy

A–B

C–E F–L M–O P–Q R–R S–U V–Z Best powder (6)Best piste conditions (8)

Ski resorts in Italy from A to B

Resort
snow depth
top and bottom

on-piste

off-piste

Last Snow

Next 9 Days
0–3 | 3–6 | 6–9
snow (cm)
Next 5 days weather forecast.
Freezing level (m)
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

(1240m — 1892m)

snow report today

45
25
Artificial snow cover 2.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1566 m
650m 900m 1400m 1500m 1000m

(1076m — 1951m)

snow report yesterday

4 cm
yesterday
1.0
1.0
snow showers clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1514 m
400m 400m 1550m 2750m 1400m

(1212m — 3275m)

snow report yesterday

60
20
Artificial snow cover 16 cm
yesterday
6.0
6.0
snow showers clear clear clear clear
Mid station 2244 m
200m 250m 1400m 2800m 1450m

(1502m — 2441m)

snow report yesterday

3.0 cm
yesterday
part cloud clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1972 m
0m 0m 0m 650m 850m

(1000m — 2100m)

snow report 2 days ago

45
20
Artificial snow cover 2.0 cm
yesterday
cloud clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1550 m
0m 0m 0m 900m 1050m

(860m — 2267m)

snow report 2 days ago

50
20
Artificial snow cover 2.0 cm
yesterday
part cloud clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1564 m
150m 200m 350m 950m 1200m

(1640m — 2212m)

snow report yesterday

24 cm
yesterday
19.0
19.0
snow showers clear clear clear part cloud
Mid station 1926 m
0m 0m 550m 1300m 850m

(1600m — 2210m)

snow report today

80
10
Artificial snow cover 4 cm
yesterday
clear clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1905 m
0m 0m 0m 800m 1000m

(1042m — 2125m)

snow report today

40
30
Packed powder and groomed snow 3.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1584 m
500m 400m 500m 1750m 1600m

(1126m — 1710m)

snow report 3 days ago

11 cm
yesterday
7.0
7.0
snow showers clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1418 m
150m 0m 1050m 1350m 1250m

(1120m — 1630m)

snow report yesterday

7 cm
yesterday
3.0
3.0
snow showers snow showers clear clear clear
Mid station 1375 m
0m 0m 0m 550m 850m

(1074m — 1200m)

snow report yesterday

8 cm
yesterday
6.0
6.0
snow showers clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1137 m
250m 0m 850m 1250m 1100m

(1151m — 2270m)

snow report 2 days ago

Aprica webcam
55
15
Artificial snow cover 4 cm
yesterday
clear clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1710 m
250m 300m 550m 1400m 1400m

(1446m — 3269m)

snow report 2 days ago

55
15
Artificial snow cover 4 cm
yesterday
part cloud clear clear clear clear
Mid station 2358 m
0m 0m 0m 650m 850m

(1000m — 2000m)

snow report 3 days ago

1.0 cm
yesterday
cloud clear clear part cloud clear
Mid station 1500 m
750m 600m 1700m 1950m 1100m

(979m — 1585m)

snow report yesterday

2.0 cm
yesterday
part cloud clear clear part cloud clear
Mid station 1282 m
0m 0m 0m 450m 750m

(1295m — 2300m)

snow report yesterday

7 cm
yesterday
snow showers clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1798 m
300m 350m 400m 1350m 1350m

(1324m — 2778m)

snow report yesterday

50
40
Artificial snow cover 6 cm
yesterday
cloud clear clear clear clear
Mid station 2051 m
0m 0m 0m 500m 800m

(1312m — 2750m)

snow report yesterday

40
20
Packed powder and groomed snow 37 cm
yesterday
15.0
15.0
snow showers clear clear clear clear
Mid station 2031 m
0m 0m 0m 600m 500m

(1259m — 1664m)

snow report 2 days ago

11 cm
yesterday
77.0
9.0
63.0
heavy snow light snow light snow clear light snow
Mid station 1462 m
550m 550m 750m 650m 600m

(1225m — 3012m)

snow report 2 days ago

Bormio webcam
25
Artificial snow cover 9 cm
yesterday
1.0
1.0
snow showers part cloud clear clear clear
Mid station 2118 m
0m 0m 0m 800m 950m

(1000m — 1700m)

snow report yesterday

2.0 cm
yesterday
clear clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1350 m
400m 450m 750m 1800m 1450m

(1200m — 1700m)

snow report yesterday

5 cm
yesterday
clear clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1450 m
550m 250m 0m 1950m 1350m

(1524m — 3480m)

snow report today

150
30
Artificial snow cover 40 cm
yesterday
24.0
24.0
mod snow clear clear clear clear
Mid station 2502 m
150m 0m 1300m 2900m 1750m

(1569m — 1824m)

snow report 3 days ago

6 cm
yesterday
5.0
5.0
light snow clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1696 m
950m 1300m 1250m 1250m 1350m

(950m — 2275m)

snow report yesterday

5 cm
yesterday
part cloud clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1612 m
0m 0m 0m 0m 650m

(950m — 2275m)

snow report yesterday

6 cm
yesterday
1.0
1.0
part cloud clear clear clear clear
Mid station 1612 m
0m 0m 0m 0m 600m

(1803m — 2235m)

snow report yesterday

Brusson webcam
11 cm
yesterday
4.0
4.0
snow showers clear clear clear clear
Mid station 2019 m
150m 0m 900m 1100m 1100m