The illuminated bell tower of the Basilica Minore dei Santi Filippo e Giacomo stands at the heart of Cortina d’Ampezzo as evening settles over the valley. Once a small village of farmers and shepherds, this storied town has evolved into the “Pearl of the Dolomites,” a renowned luxury destination. Surrounded by the limestone peaks of the UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites, the town’s historic center remains a “living room” for celebrities and high society.
Walking the main thoroughfare of Cortina d’Ampezzo is a glamorous experience. It is as if every designer brand has decided it needs to be represented in this small town more than 4,000 feet up in the Italian Alps. In a few short steps, you pass shops for Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Prada and more. Among passers-by, fur coats are in fashion.
Cortina has been in the international spotlight in recent weeks as a host to many Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. But this storied town has a much longer history of fame and fortune that has led to various nicknames like Pearl or Queen of the Dolomites.
On the mountain slopes nearby, skiers stop for hot chocolate or an alcoholic spritz at an alpine lodge where they are served by Riccardo Fiore, the grandson of the region’s winter sport champions. His grandmother, Yvonne Rüegg, is an Olympic gold medalist in giant slalom. His grandfather was the trainer of Alberto Tomba — one of history’s greatest alpine skiers, who learned on these very slopes. “Tomba still stops by here all the time,” Fiore says.
For Fiore, there’s nothing unusual about serving drinks to famous individuals. He names well-known Italian politicians, actors and singers he has spotted in the lodge. There are international names who visit Cortina, too — Sylvester Stallone filmed scenes from the 1993 action movie Cliffhanger here, and celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake and Ridley Scott have been visitors.
“Many celebrities you barely recognize,” Fiore says. “They try to disguise themselves, as they don’t want to attract too much attention.”
Nonetheless, Cortina has earned another nickname — the “celebrities’ living room.” The Hotel de la Poste bar, with its wood-paneled ceiling and walls, was a favorite haunt of American writer Ernest Hemingway. A small plaque honors him on a wall by the corner table he occupied for countless hours in the 1940s, and the hotel has preserved the room he stayed in — visitors can look in to see his typewriter. “His room is a time capsule,” says Servane Giol, author of The Queen of the Dolomites, a book about Cortina’s history.
Giol says Cortina, once a small village of farmers and shepherds, became famous in the 1920s when it was visited by the then king of Belgium, who loved to climb the jagged limestone Dolomite peaks. His daughter later married an Italian crown prince. “Between the 1920s and the 1940s, Cortina was actually the chicest place to be. You’ve got very glamorous royal families,” she says.
It became a destination for Italy’s wealthy, and then in 1956 Cortina hosted the Winter Olympics, the first to be televised. Archive footage shows grainy black-and-white images of the opening ceremony, described by the news anchor as the “spectacle of peace.” Olympic participants from 32 countries took part in Games that saw athletes speeding down mountain slopes or hurtling along a bobsled track built at the edge of town. The television broadcasts internationalized Cortina’s fame; Hollywood films were shot here — including the first Pink Panther movie and the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, in which Roger Moore skis down the mountainside during a high-octane chase.
Today, the Dolomites are a UNESCO heritage site and their beauty attracts celebrities and huge numbers of other tourists — many lured by images shared on social media of the turquoise alpine lakes and dramatic peaks. More crowds arrived in February and March to watch the recent Olympics and Paralympics, events that depended heavily on artificial snow. As winters become shorter and warmer because of climate change, questions about the future of this ski resort town grow louder.
Cortina is changing, too. Increasingly, people come for summer hiking and for fine dining experiences that highlight the region’s agricultural traditions. Ludovica Rubbini and her husband, Riccardo Gaspari, run SanBrite, a restaurant that has earned a Michelin star and the guide’s “green star” for sustainable, locally grown ingredients. The couple’s “agricucina” project connects the kitchen directly with their farm: waiters tell guests about the cows that provided the home-churned butter served in large pots with sourdough bread.
In the cozy restaurant, dried flowers hang from the walls and lights include lamps used during the 1956 Olympics. The dishes are inspired by the mountains and woodlands: a Jerusalem artichoke cigar served on a bed of moss and filled with artichoke cream, mushrooms and marinated shallots; and a dessert crafted to resemble a frozen lake, with a panna cotta base, a layer evoking frozen water and elderflower, and yogurt powder as a dusting of snow. “We were out for a walk, and Riccardo crouched by the frozen lake tapping it and examining it,” Rubbini recalls, remembering the day her husband was inspired to develop that winter dessert.
Traditional elements persist across Cortina: mountain huts called rifugi, decorated with heart-patterned Ampezzo textiles, serve as rest points for skiers and hikers and offer panoramic views of the snow-capped Tofane massif. The town’s mix of rustic alpine hospitality, high-end boutiques and cinematic history gives it a distinctive character.
Cortina’s story is one of layers: a pastoral past, aristocratic and cinematic glamour, Olympic legacy, and a contemporary turn toward sustainable gastronomy and year-round tourism. The town’s future will likely hinge on balancing preservation of its cultural and natural heritage with adaptation to a warming climate and the demands of global fame.