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World Europe Italy Veneto Cortina d'Ampezzo Learn

Cortina d'Ampezzo

Learn about Cortina d'Ampezzo

A concise introduction to Cortina d'Ampezzo, its geography, history and culture.

Introduction

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Cortina d'Ampezzo sits at 1,224 metres in a broad basin ringed by the Tofane, Cristallo, Faloria and Sorapiss -- the Dolomite peaks that were inscribed by UNESCO as a natural World Heritage site in 2009.

It has been a resort for a century and a half, and it shows: one long street of cafés and expensive shops, an eighteenth-century church at its centre, and hotels that have been receiving the same families for generations. It hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 and again, jointly with Milan, in February 2026.

Underneath the resort is somewhere older and less Italian. The Ampezzo valley was Austrian until 1918, its own language is Ladin rather than Italian, and its communal lands are still administered by the Regole d'Ampezzo, an institution older than either country.

Geography

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Cortina lies at 1,224 metres in the Ampezzo basin, where several valleys meet and the Boite river runs south. Dolomite walls close it on every side, which is why the town is flat and the surroundings are vertical.

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History

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Ampezzo was Tyrolean and Austrian from 1511 until 1918, which is why its language is Ladin and its institutions are its own. It became a resort in the nineteenth century, hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics, and co-hosted the Games again with Milan in February 2026.

Read the full History guide →

Culture

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Two cultures sit on top of each other here. The visible one is the Italian resort of Corso Italia; underneath is a Ladin-speaking Alpine community that was Austrian until 1918 and still runs its common land through an institution older than Italy.

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How It Was Built

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Cortina is built of wood and stone in the Alpine manner, low against the snow, with the eighteenth-century basilica and its campanile as the only vertical accents the mountains have not already provided.

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Climate Patterns

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Cortina has an alpine climate: cold snowy winters, short mild summers, and weather that changes within an hour. At 1,224 metres the town is well above the Veneto's heat, and the peaks around it make their own conditions.

Read the full Climate Patterns guide →

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