Special deal from 10th-17th Dec 2010
1,350$ all Incl.
1,350$ all Incl.
Special deal from 17th-24th Dec 2010
1,259$ all Incl.
1,259$ all Incl.
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2009/10 ITALY FAM TRIPS
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MANY ACTIVITIES FOR NON SKIERS
Not only Skiing with us. Wine tasting, walking tours and much more...
DAILY SKI EXCURSIONS
Our Ski guides may provide you with what you are looking for! Fan and high level skiing.
SKI COUNCILS SPECIALISTS
We have the experience in arranging Ski Council Events.
INTERNATIONAL TRIPS?
Would you like to lead an International Trip but you do not have the experience? Relax and contact us to know all the details of the resort you would like to visit.
Cortina - HISTORY
The Rise of a small Mountain Village...In prehistoric ages, the region was inhabited during the summer by hunters seeking large mammals, deer or chamoise. In 1986, in the Mondeval de Sora basin near Croda da Lago, at an altitude of 2150 m, under an isolated rock, a tomb was unearthed dating back to the castelnovian period. For the first time ever, this permitted archaeological verification of the systems of daily life of high-mountain hunters, who lived between the end of the Mesolithic and the beginning of the Neolithic ages (7-8000 B.C.). That Paleo-Venetians, indo-Europeans, were already living in Cadore in the 7th cent. B.C. is certain; starting in the 4th cent. B.C., the region was invaded by Celtic tribes. In about 225 B.C., the Romans began the conquest of cisalpine Gaul. In 181 B.C., the Latin colony of Aquileia was founded as a departure point for relations with the regnum Noricum (Celts). The Carnians, a Celtic tribe, had already been dominated by the Romans in 35 B.C. About this same time, Cadore was also romanised and became part of the municipium of Julium Carnicum. In the 6th century the Lombards founded the Duchy of Friuli which also comprises Cadore and Ampezzo. In 774, Charlemagne subdued the Lombards and Cadore became a county of the Franc kingdom. In 1077 Henry IV granted the patriarch of Aquileia Sigeardo the whole of Friuli along with Cadore and Ampezzo. Until 1335, the region remained under the dominion of the Counts of Camino. Between 1335 and 1420, Ampezzo, along with the rest of Cadore, enjoyed a period of independence under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Aquileia. After the collapse of the Aquileia patriarchy, the region passed into the hands of Venice, which ruled until 1511, the year that emperor Maximilian of Austria, after years of conflict with Venice, triumphantly entered Ampezzo. The border was established between Ampezzo and San Vito di Cadore in the locality now called Dogana Vecchia. Notwithstanding a succession of dominations, Ampezzo kept its independence by virtue of the “Statuti Cadorini” dated 1338, according to which, the whole of Cadore, of which Ampezzo was one of the 10 "Centene", gave itself rules and regulations that safeguarded its legislative and administrative independence, while initially remaining under the jurisdiction of the Aquileia Patriarchy and then of Venice. The Austrian emperors also reconfirmed these privileges. Except for a short period between 1796 and 1813 when, following the Napoleonic wars, dominators came and went, Ampezzo was part of the Austrian empire for 400 years. Around 1860, a number of English and Austrian travellers passed through the Ampezzo valley and, on returning home, told everyone how beautiful it was; among them was the Austrian mountaineer Paul Grohmann, the first to conquer all of Cortina's most famous peaks, with the help of local hunter guides. In his book, Wanderungen in der Dolomiten (1877), he gave a fundamental contribution to boosting tourism in the region. As a result, the first rest houses and hotels were built for travellers.
The First World War The memory of the Great War at the Dolomite front is kept alive in an extraordinary open air museum, which commemorates the activities of Italian, Austro-Hungarian and German soldiers from 1915 to 1917.
The Tofane Group, a magnificent blend of vertical rock and ice in the eastern Dolomite Mountains, was one of the major battlefields on the Italian Front in WW1. For the climber these three peaks are an endless challenge of cliff, ice-choked chimney and glacier. During La Grande Guerra these natural features and mountainous and year-round severe climate would provide limitless opportunities to ambush or delay the enemy. Infantry attacks took place on 45-degree rock slopes, often in howling blizzards. Once the peaks were finally captured the war went underground, in a battle of tunneling and enormous exploding mines.
During the First World War, Ampezzo was in the front line and a bloody trench conflict was fought for three years in the mountains. At the end of October 1918, the Austrians began to retreat from Ampezzo, which was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. Cortina d'Ampezzo had already become a renowned Italian tourist resort in the 1920s, but the event that really put it on the tourist map was the Winter Olympics of 1956.
The Winter Olympics...After the Second World War, the most remarkable event in the tourist history of Cortina were the 1956 Winter Olympics, the first ever to be broadcast live on TV. New sport facilities were created and new hotels were built. As a consequence, Cortina was flooded by the mass-tourism of that period. Today, it continues to be the favourite destination of the élite tourism, although much has changed and the society-life takes place mainly in villas or in some exclusive clubs.
The Cortina Games were the first to be televised and these Games marked the first appearance by a team from the USSR. The Soviets immediately won more medals than any other nation, finishing atop the medal standings with 16 total medals. The individual star of the Games was Toni Sailer of Austria, who won all three men's alpine skiing events. Japan's Chiharu Igaya, at the time a student at Dartmouth College in the United States, placed second in the slalom, becoming the first Japanese to win a medal at the Winter Games. In the ski jumping competition, the Finnish team inaugurated a new aerodynamic style, which consisted of holding the arms flat against the body rather than over the head in a diving position. The Soviets hockey team ended Canada's domination. Canada returned home with a bronze medal, finishing behind the Soviet Union and the United States. The United States began to emerge as a definite power in figure skating as Tenley Albright won the women's title and Hayes Alan Jenkins led an American medal sweep on the men's side. Canada won a silver in pairs' figure skating thanks to the duo of Robert Norris Bowden, who was Canada's flag bearer, and Frances Dafoe. These Games were the last at which the figure skating competitions were held outdoors. Canada's other bronze medal was won by Lucile Wheeler in ladies' downhill.
