Cortina d'Ampezzo

The Ampezzo basin closed in by the Tofane, the Cristallo and the Sorapis, with a pedestrian centre, two Olympic Games behind it and a collective ownership of the woods that has lasted for centuries.

A short history

Cortina d'Ampezzo sits at 1,224 metres in a wide, sunny basin closed in by an amphitheatre of mountains you can name from a distance: the Tofane to the west, the Cristallo to the north, the Sorapis and Faloria to the east, the Cinque Torri and the Lagazuoi towards the passes. It is this geometry, more than the town itself, that explains why they call it the queen of the Dolomites: from anywhere in the village you look up and find a rock face.

Until 1918 the Ampezzo was Tyrolean territory, and before that it had centuries of self-rule behind it. Its people speak a Ladin of their own, and the language is not the only thing that survived: the Regole d'Ampezzo, the institution that manages the woods and pastures collectively, has existed since the Middle Ages and still owns most of the municipal land. That is why around Cortina you see meadows and forest instead of second homes running up the slopes.

The Winter Olympics came here twice, in 1956 and in February 2026 as a venue of the Milan-Cortina Games. In between lie seventy years in which the town was where Italy went to be seen: the pedestrian Corso Italia, the parish bell tower visible from every street, the shop windows. That part is still there, but it is the smaller one.

The larger part is the mountains around, and they still carry the marks of the First World War. The front ran along the ridges above the town, and on the Lagazuoi and at the Cinque Torri the tunnels and trenches have been restored as open-air museums: you walk inside cut rock, with a view that in 1916 was a field of fire.

How to fit Cortina d'Ampezzo into a three, five or seven day trip: The Dolomites in 3, 5 or 7 Days: How to Plan Your Trip.

What to see

• The Cinque Torri, the group of isolated towers above the Falzarego Pass, with the open-air museum of the Great War and the most photographed climbing routes in the Dolomites.
• The Lagazuoi hut at 2,752 metres, reached by cable car from Falzarego, from which you can walk down through the war tunnels.
• The Sorapis lake, that blue water below the Sorapis walls, and the Tofane with Ra Valles above the town.

How to get to Cortina d'Ampezzo

Cortina has no railway station: the Dolomites railway closed in 1964 and its trackbed became the cycle path to Dobbiaco. By train you arrive at Calalzo di Cadore or Dobbiaco and continue by scheduled bus, frequent in summer and winter. By car you climb from Belluno along the Alemagna road, or over the Falzarego, Giau and Tre Croci passes. In high season the central car parks fill early and it is better to leave the car in the areas above town.

When to go

Summer is the season for trails and via ferratas, with the huts open from June to September and the lifts shortening the approaches. Winter is for skiing and the pistes below the Tofane. The shoulder seasons are the quietest: in late September the larches turn and the basin empties, but many lifts close and it is worth checking before setting off.