Madonna di Campiglio – Italian Alps Winter Wonderland

One of the secrets to the Italian lifestyle is balance in life. Work is extremely important, as is play. Italian work contracts, from store clerk to CEO, include just over a month's paid vacation and 8 national holidays every year. This allows Italian families to spend their holidays visiting various cultures and destinations around the world. The week from Christmas to New Year's Day is the beginning of the winter vacation period. All of the primary destinations go all out with festivities, organized events, fireworks, food festivals and numerous nightclubs. For the Italians these week long vacations are an opportunity of extravagance.

Madonna di Campiglio is one of the favored destinations. Madonna di Campiglio, a discreet and elegant town nestling at an altitude of 1550 meters in the stupendous valley between the Brenta Dolomites and the glaciers of Adamello and Presanella, is today most certainly Italy’s number one ski resort as well as one of the most important resorts in the Alps. The variety of the surrounding mountains allows you to ski over countless kilometers of runs, up to an altitude of 2600 meters and with different degrees of difficulty. A fun thing to try is to set out from the centre of the town and return there without ever removing your skis.

Today the Ski Area boasts 57 lifts and 150 km of ski runs, with a capacity of more than 31,000 people per hour, 50,000 sq m of Snow Park, 40 km for Nordic skiing and there are plans to link up to the slopes in Pinzolo. This year Madonna di Campiglio hosts the 2007 World Freestyle Championships in January. As most top destinations Madonna di Campiglio is not just great winter sports.

Nightclubs, pubs and taverns are on just about every corner. One of the great hotels is the appropriate choice on your first visit to Madonna di Campiglio. Most of them are great but here are a few that I like: Hotel Carlo Magno Zeledria, Hotel Dahu and Hotel Cerana.

Once you have the lay of the land try out renting a cottage. There are some marvelous places, I mean breathtakingly marvelous!

Another fantastic experience is on the ski slopes. Go light on breakfast before hitting the slopes. Stop in at one of the top slope taverns and try out the coffee with Grappa, sausage and cheese. For lunch try out the polenta dishes, they are great. Perhaps it is the hunger, the cold or the scenery but everything just tastes so good.

Tags: Winter Vacations Madonna di Campiglio Trentino Skiing Hotels Travel Italy