The Turin Alps: world-class pistes and ancient villages
At a stone's throw from Turin, the Via Lattea is north-western Italy's most extensive ski area. Its 400 kilometres of pistes (120 kilometres of snow-making facilities) connect Sestriere, Pragelato Cesana-Sansicario, Claviere, Oulx, Sauze d'Oulx and Montgenèvre in France. Among vast pine forests and snowy peaks, you can enjoy downhill skiing, Nordic skiing, bobsleighing, sledding and freestyle skiing. If you feel inspired by the fabled spirit of the Great North, then dog sledding is the ideal way to explore the area surrounding Sestriere.
Nearby, Bardonecchia has 100 kilometres of ski slopes divided into two districts: Jafferau, on the upper reaches, and Colomion-Les Arnauds-Melezet, from where one can ski to neighbouring villages and hamlets. Many pistes run through wooded areas, and an ample range of winter activities caters to all tastes: from snowboarding, for which Bardonecchia is famed, to cross-country skiing (22 kilometres of trails), snowshoeing, dog sledding, snow tubing, horse riding and the Alpine Coaster, snowmobiling and fat biking.
Turning to the Alto Canavese (Upper Canavese) area, a perfect start to the winter season would be to head to the Piedmont side of the Gran Paradiso National Park and experience the wonders of the first natural area to be established in Italy (in 1922). You could enjoy close encounters with its animals under the expert supervision of park rangers, snowshoe through the woods or slide lightly and silently across the slopes while cross-country skiing or ski touring. Nor should one overlook Turin’s Small Ski Resorts, unspoilt oases in the Lanzo, Susa, Sangone and Chisone-Germanasca valleys. In Valle Pellice, deep in the heart of the Valli Valdesi (Waldensian Valleys), the classic Villanova - Conca del Pra trail leads up to the Jervis refuge, while another classic is the trail up to the recent Al Sap refuge.