Why Cortina is a timeless hotspot in the Dolomites
The elegant town, tucked into a stunning valley in the Venetian Dolomites, is primarily known as a winter sports and jet-set destination. But it wouldn’t be Italy if you couldn’t also enjoy exceptional cuisine here.
January 16, 2025
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For Italy, Cortina d’Ampezzo is what Lech is to Austria, Val d’Isère to France, or Gstaad to Switzerland—the country’s most exclusive ski resort. Its rise to fame began in 1956 when it hosted the Winter Olympics, transforming the once-sleepy mountain village into an internationally renowned destination. In the following years, Cortina boomed. Wealthy Venetians, Milanese, and even Romans built homes and purchased apartments, while fashion and design boutiques, hotels, and restaurants sprang up, solidifying its status as a luxury hotspot.
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And so the legend of the “Queen of the Dolomites”, as Cortina is often called, was born. Much like the other said prestigious destinations, people don’t come here just to ski in one of the largest alpine ski areas or to enjoy other winter sports. They come to Cortina for the passeggiata, a leisurely stroll along the central shopping street, Corso Italia, to make a bella figura—to see and be seen, showcase or observe the latest winter fashion trends, shop in boutiques for Prada, Gucci, and more—and, of course, indulge in exceptional food and drink.
Back to the Golden Age
Giuseppe Ghedina
Today, Cortina is preparing to experience the most glorious era in its history once again, as it works together with Milan to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. Investment, construction, and renovations are happening everywhere. New hotels and restaurants are in the works or have already opened. Among the latter is the restaurant by brothers Massimiliano and Raffaele Alajmo. Hailing from Padua, which, like Cortina, is located in the Veneto region, they’ve transformed the family- run inn, Le Calandre, in a rather unremarkable suburb into one of the country’s best restaurants, earning three Michelin stars in the process. This success was followed by more establishments, including in Paris and Marrakech, as well as the historic Caffè Quadri in Venice’s Piazza San Marco. And for the past two years, they have also brought their culinary expertise to Cortina.
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“We’ve been coming here since we were kids,” says Raffaele, who handles the business side of the operation. “During the pandemic, we opened a pop-up to keep our staff busy, and that’s when we developed a taste for Cortina.” The following year, they were contacted by an agency that offered them a legendary old establishment called El Toulà. The brothers accepted the challenge and opened Alajmo Cortina in December 2022.
The chalet is located slightly outside the center, on a hill with a spectacular view over the town and the surrounding mountains. The atmosphere is warm and cozy, with plenty of wood, furs, and comfortable seating. But you are in Cortina, after all, so there’s also a caviar and champagne fridge, as well as pictures and models of sleek boats and fast cars.
Chantal Arnts
“From a culinary standpoint, I was strongly intrigued to create a connection to the world of the mountains,” says Massimiliano, the cooking brother of the Alajmo duo. “It was about discovering and exploring a wealth of extraordinary ingredients and flavors while staying within our region of Veneto, which is also strongly influenced by the sea and the lagoon.” As such, the cuisine of Mattia Barni, the head chef at Alajmo Cortina, is essentially Venetian through and through, shaped by the location and natural diversity of the region between the Alps and the Adriatic, with a “Cortina Touch” that fits the place. Examples include bone marrow with caviar and champagne risotto, fallow deer alla Rossini, or fried scampi with thyme powder, celery juice, wild fennel, and fir shoots.
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Riccardo Gaspari and Ludovica Rubbini take a much more down-to-earth and minimalist approach. Their restaurant, SanBrite, is also located just outside the town center and is a building in the traditional Dolomite style, with a stone foundation and an overhanging wooden upper floor. The furnishings and materials come from local craftsmen.
Gaspari, a trained carpenter and ski instructor, helped his father on the farm before taking over the family agriturismo, El Brite de Larieto, and founding the restaurant in 2017. To this day, many ingredients are sourced from their own production, with the rich alpine milk from the family’s cows and goats being particularly noteworthy. This includes excellent butter and several types of cheese. The cuisine at SanBrite is equally influenced by the surrounding mountain nature and the chef’s inspiration. Dishes like marinated char with lentils, trout with lovage essence, homemade pasta with fir tree oil, milk-braised pork pancetta, and gnocchi with aged cheese, curd, and chives are harmonious and thoroughly convincing.
Panoramic mountain views
Giuseppe Ghedina
At an even higher altitude, over 2,000 meters above sea level, just before the mountain pass Passo di Giau, lies the Da Aurelio restaurant, which was opened by Aurelio and Fernanda Dariz in 1970. In 1996, their son Luigi, known as Gigi, took over and applied his experiences from Italy and abroad to reinterpret his parents’ local cuisine with much inspiration and a touch of creativity. And so, you dine at a dizzying height in a bright wooden building with expansive windows that, depending on the weather, either shield diners from snowstorms and the cold or allow sunlight to flood the space, offering a 360-degree view of the mountains and sparkling snow.
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At the heart of the cuisine are the many wild herbs that thrive abundantly in the relatively sunny Dolomites, collected by the chef and his team and transformed into equally elegant and intensely flavorful dishes. One example is one of the restaurant’s iconic dishes, caramelized partridge with forest berry vinegar, savoy cabbage, and polenta. A clear influence from the Scandinavian school is evident in desserts such as panna cotta with alpine hay, lingonberry coulis, and mountain lichen. To perfect the experience, the restaurant’s wine cellar offers a selection of over 600 labels.
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All in all, you can confidently say that Cortina d’Ampezzo is already one of the ski resorts with the most exciting culinary and gastronomic offerings in the entire Alpine region. Despite its current reputation, the Alajmo brothers believe that the upcoming Olympic Games next winter will provide an opportunity for further evolution. “We expect that Cortina will experience an exciting renewal and modernization due to the Games, essentially an upgrade of the existing gastronomy to meet the current demands of guests from both Italy and abroad,” says Massimiliano Alajmo. His brother Raffaele adds, “So that Cortina d’Ampezzo can once again compete with the best and most exclusive ski resorts in Switzerland, France, and the entire Alpine region.” Even though, as many experts believe, this is already the case.
Continue reading: Worth a Visit: Find Indulgence at 3 Gourmet Restaurants in the Dolomites
This article appeared in the Falstaff TRAVEL issue Winter 2024/25.