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.
read more...

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 9 resorts and 11 are reporting good piste conditions.

read more...

Recent Eyeball Snow Reports for Italy

A–B

C–E F–L M–O P–Q R–R S–U V–Z Best powder (9)Best piste conditions (11)

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)
Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon

(1240m — 1892m)

snow report today

55
10
Spring snow 11 cm
yesterday
2.0
rain showers clear light rain light rain snow showers
Mid station 1566 m
2250m 2450m 2350m 2100m 1800m

(1076m — 1951m)

snow report yesterday

10 cm
yesterday
4.0
26.0
4.0
rain showers light snow heavy rain mod snow snow showers
Mid station 1514 m
1550m 1500m 1900m 1600m 1450m

(1212m — 3275m)

snow report today

100
35
Packed powder and groomed snow 28 cm
yesterday
62.0
62.0
8.0
light snow light snow heavy snow heavy snow snow showers
Mid station 2244 m
1200m 1300m 1950m 1750m 1200m

(1502m — 2441m)

snow report today

25 cm
yesterday
9.0
40.0
8.0
light snow light snow light snow light snow light snow
Mid station 1972 m
1650m 800m 1900m 1850m 900m

(1000m — 2100m)

snow report today

150
50
Spring snow 11 cm
yesterday
6.0
6.0
light snow light rain light rain light rain light snow
Mid station 1550 m
1550m 1150m 1900m 1950m 1150m

(860m — 2267m)

snow report today

80
40
Artificial snow cover 23 cm
yesterday
6.0
21.0
6.0
light snow light rain light rain light snow light snow
Mid station 1564 m
1600m 1100m 2000m 1750m 1200m

(1640m — 2212m)

snow report today

33 cm
yesterday
54.0
78.0
12.0
light snow light snow heavy snow mod snow snow showers
Mid station 1926 m
1300m 1200m 1800m 1450m 1000m

(1600m — 2210m)

snow report today

100
15
Artificial snow cover 18 cm
yesterday
8.0
33.0
7.0
light snow light snow light snow light snow snow showers
Mid station 1905 m
1550m 1150m 1950m 1650m 950m

(1042m — 2125m)

snow report today

120
Packed powder and groomed snow 25 cm
yesterday
11.0
51.0
11.0
light snow light rain light rain light snow light snow
Mid station 1584 m
1250m 1550m 2050m 1650m 1550m

(1126m — 1710m)

snow report today

Antagnod webcam
5 cm
yesterday
14.0
snow showers light rain heavy rain light snow snow showers
Mid station 1418 m
1250m 1300m 1950m 1750m 900m

(1120m — 1630m)

snow report today

3.0 cm
yesterday
1.0
1.0
light snow light rain light rain light rain light snow
Mid station 1375 m
1600m 1300m 1950m 1950m 1050m

(1074m — 1200m)

snow report today

3.0 cm
yesterday
rain showers light rain heavy rain mod rain rain showers
Mid station 1137 m
1200m 1250m 1900m 1600m 950m

(1151m — 2270m)

snow report today

Aprica webcam
170
30
Spring snow 21 cm
yesterday
17.0
49.0
10.0
light snow light rain mod snow mod snow light snow
Mid station 1710 m
1450m 1050m 1900m 1650m 1150m

(1446m — 3269m)

snow report today

170
80
Packed powder and groomed snow 29 cm
yesterday
10.0
45.0
9.0
light snow light snow light snow light snow mod snow
Mid station 2358 m
1600m 900m 1800m 1900m 850m

(1000m — 2000m)

snow report 4 days ago

3.0 cm
yesterday
5.0
5.0
snow showers cloud light rain light rain part cloud
Mid station 1500 m
1300m 1850m 2200m 2000m 1900m

(979m — 1585m)

snow report today

2.0 cm
yesterday
light snow light rain light rain light rain light snow
Mid station 1282 m
1550m 1100m 1950m 1800m 1050m

(1295m — 2300m)

snow report today

15 cm
yesterday
10.0
38.0
8.0
light snow light snow light snow light snow snow showers
Mid station 1798 m
1350m 1350m 1900m 1550m 1000m

(1324m — 2778m)

snow report today

60
10
Artificial snow cover 22 cm
yesterday
9.0
36.0
8.0
light snow light snow light snow light snow mod snow
Mid station 2051 m
1600m 1000m 1800m 1850m 900m

(1312m — 2750m)

snow report today

110
20
Packed powder and groomed snow 16 cm
yesterday
23.0
35.0
8.0
snow showers cloud mod snow mod snow snow showers
Mid station 2031 m
1050m 1600m 1800m 1050m 1000m

(1259m — 1664m)

snow report yesterday

3.0 cm
yesterday
part cloud cloud part cloud part cloud rain showers
Mid station 1462 m
2600m 2950m 2900m 2650m 2000m

(1225m — 3012m)

snow report today

Bormio webcam
210
25
Packed powder and groomed snow 18 cm
yesterday
17.0
51.0
9.0
light snow light snow light snow light snow light snow
Mid station 2118 m
1550m 1200m 2000m 1550m 750m

(1000m — 1700m)

snow report yesterday

9 cm
yesterday
4.0
4.0
light snow light rain mod rain heavy rain light rain
Mid station 1350 m
1300m 1500m 1950m 1650m 1600m

(1200m — 1700m)

snow report yesterday

11 cm
yesterday
4.0
4.0
light snow cloud light rain mod rain thunderstorm
Mid station 1450 m
1300m 2150m 2150m 1900m 1850m

(1524m — 3480m)

snow report today

250
Fresh snow across the ski area
Fresh
31 cm
yesterday
52.0
54.0
9.0
snow showers light snow heavy snow light snow snow showers
Mid station 2502 m
1300m 1650m 1950m 1650m 900m

(1569m — 1824m)

snow report yesterday

1.0 cm
yesterday
rain showers part cloud cloud part cloud snow showers
Mid station 1696 m
2750m 2950m 2700m 2700m 1850m

(950m — 2275m)

snow report today

10 cm
yesterday
5.0
25.0
5.0
light snow light rain light snow light rain mod snow
Mid station 1612 m
1600m 1100m 1750m 1850m 950m

(950m — 2275m)

snow report today

10 cm
yesterday
4.0
22.0
4.0
light snow light rain light snow light rain mod snow
Mid station 1612 m
1550m 1150m 1800m 1850m 1000m

(1803m — 2235m)

snow report yesterday

Brusson webcam
21 cm
yesterday
49.0
44.0
6.0
snow showers light snow heavy snow mod snow clear
Mid station 2019 m
1200m 1200m 1850m 1750m 900m