Enhancing the status of a historic town
The staging of the VII Olympic Winter Games in 1956 boosted Cortina d’Ampezzo’s reputation as an internationally renowned tourist destination and left it with facilities that continue to attract major sports competitions.
Known as the Queen of the Dolomites – the mountain range was declared a United Nations World Heritage Site in 2009 – Cortina d’Ampezzo has a thousand-year history and began welcoming intrepid mountaineers and affluent tourists in the second half of the 19th century.
Already well-known among winter tourists in the first half of the 20th century, the Italian resort benefitted from the fact that the 1956 Olympic Winter Games were broadcast to an international television audience. The staging of the Games also brought media exposure in leading newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Washington Post, while promotional films were made to attract tourists to the town, who began arriving in numbers on bus tours.
Now popular with visitors from Italy and further afield, the town has a population that rises from around 6,000 in the low season to 50,000 in the winter months. It offers around 25,000 beds for guests at its hotels and bed-and-breakfasts. Skiers and snowboarders are well catered for at the resort, which has 120 kilometres of slopes and 35 lifts. The resort is part of the Dolomiti Superski, one of the world’s biggest ski areas, with 1,200 kilometres of slopes across 12 zones.
A co-host of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games along with the city of Milan (350 kilometres to the south-west), Cortina d’Ampezzo has much to offer aside from skiing, and welcomes visitors all year round. As well as the many splendours of the mountains, local sights and attractions include the town’s historic centre, the Helmut Ullrich Astronomical Observatory on Col Druscie, and a large open-air museum dedicated to the region’s First World War campaigns.
The pistes created for the Olympic Winter Games Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 continue to be used for major national and international events. These include the 2021 FIS Alpine World Championships, the FIS Women’s Alpine Ski World Cup, and the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, for which the curling competition will be held at the Olympic Ice Stadium (now known as the Stadio Olimpico del Ghiaccio). Located in the town, it continues to operate as a multi-purpose complex serving local clubs and the community.