Olympic Villages to Alpine luxury: Italy prepares for Winter Games

From Olympic villages to fully booked luxury hotels, Italy is preparing to welcome both the world's winter athletes and high-profile visitors for the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

With competition venues spread across several regions, six Olympic villages have been constructed to reflect different design philosophies and legacy goals. One of the most distinctive is the Cortina Athletes' Village, located in the heart of the Dolomites.

"Different Olympic and Paralympic villages can be approached in many ways," says Cristiano Bozzetti, Communications Manager for ATI Olympic and Paralympic Village. "Here in Cortina, the goal of SIMICO CEO, architect Fabio Saldini, was to create a sustainable, reversible and temporary village."

The village has been constructed inside a national park on the site of a former airport runway and includes 377 mobile homes providing 1,400 beds, 10,000 square meters of common areas, and 4,000 square meters dedicated to restaurants and bars.

After the Games, the village will be dismantled and its components repurposed, ensuring the area can be restored to its original state.

A very different approach has been taken in Milan. The Milan Olympic Village, built on a redeveloped rail yard, has been designed as a permanent structure and will be transformed into student housing once the Games conclude.

Together, the Cortina and Milan projects are two of six athlete villages spread across the Olympic competition zones.

As the Olympic villages get ready to host the world's winter athletes, the tourism industry is preparing to welcome spectators, and alpine luxury is big business. 

Five-star hotels in the resort town are already fully booked with VIP guests. Antonio Onorato, owner of the Rosapetra Spa Resort and CEO of Relegance Collection Hotels, said many visitors will come from "the top management of the main sponsors, as well as royal families and team delegations."

Inside the resort's signature suites, nightly rates during peak season can reach up to around $8,000, according to Giovanni De Silvestro, Operations Manager at the Rosapetra Hotel.

The Olympic spotlight is also accelerating long-term growth in Cortina's hospitality sector. "We started with three five-star hotels two years ago, and we expect to reach around 12 in the next two years," Onorato said. "Cortina will significantly improve the quality of its offer."

From sustainable athlete housing to high-end alpine resorts, the Milano-Cortina Games promise a diverse Olympic experience – defined by Italian design and environmental responsibility and legacy.