From the Alps and Dolomites of northern Italy to Mt. Etna on Sicily, Italy offers skiing and winter sports vacations. Many ski resorts also make good summer hiking and climbing vacations. I commenced on my skiing vacation from The Piemonte (Piedmont) Region, in northwest Italy, which offered skiing and mountain sports in the villages that hosted the 2006 winter Olympics. The Mountains of Piedmont also provided amateurs like me with fun, space and great cultural and gastronomic traditions.
Form Piemonte I moved to Ski Cervinia – the Matterhorn also known as Monte Cervinia near the Swiss border and the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt. The village of Cervinia located at the base of the Matterhorn or Monte Cervinia, this village offered me the best Italian food I have had till date.
Because of heavy snowfall and high elevations, Cervinia makes skiing available nearly all year round. I also paved my way to Courmayeur Skiing, situated on the opposite side of Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) Cormayeur is a traditional alpine village with great scenery and is known as one of the best all around ski resorts in Italy. This village also offers great shopping and good Italian restaurants and lively nightlife.
Courmayeur and Chamonix also share the highest mountain peak in Europe and Courmayeur is also a popular destination for climbers and hikers in the summer and early fall. Another mesmeric ski resort I visited was Italian Dolomites, near the Austrian Border. This situate offered the most spectacular mountain scenery and a number of Italian skiing villages. Ortisei is a great place for cross-country skiing. Cortina d’Ampezzo and Val Gardena are two of the most well-known ski areas here. 
I also visited Cortina d’Ampezzo which is the Italian Dolomites in the Veneto Region of northern Italy, about 450km from Milan-Malpensa Airport. Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of Europe’s most exclusive resorts. Surrounded by beautiful scenery, this picturesque village makes a beautifully perfect place to ski and to visit. To my surprise this village was extremely vibrant and lively housing a museum and art gallery, Movie Theater, indoor tennis, restaurants, and hotels.
The last and the most memorable ski retreat I visited, was in Sicily, and skiing on the volcano Mt. Etna was an experience by itself. Though some lifts have been destroyed during volcanic eruptions Mt. Etna still offers 1400 meters of vertical skiing area along with the two ski areas on, the southern slope of Rifugio Sapienza and the northern ending in the resort of Linguaglossa. Visiting the ski retreats in Italy and indulging in the winter sports activities here was an experience I will cherish forever.
