Home WinterResorts Pinzolo, the undiscovered top secret of Madonna di Campiglio

Pinzolo, the undiscovered top secret of Madonna di Campiglio

by Adam Attew
Pinzolo Panorama

LOCAL AREA: Pinzolo in Madonna di Campiglo tourism district

CONNECTED AREA: Ski Area Campiglio Dolomiti di Brenta Val di Sole Val Rendena

SEASON START & END: Mid November – Mid April

SKI ALTITUDE IN METRES: Pinzolo 800m-2100m / Vertical Drop- 1300m // Connected Area 800m-2500m / Vertical Drop- 1700m

PISTES: Pinzolo: 22 Pistes for a total of 30 km / Connected Area: 108 Pistes for a total of 153km

LIFTS: Pinzolo 14 / Connected Area: 58

SNOW: The snowmaking system covers 95% of the Campiglio Ski Area ski runs

LIFT TICKET PRICES: See Online for best prices.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: 22km of trails

LANGUAGE: Italian

AIRPORT: Bolzano 105km / Verona-Villafranca 150km / Bergamo-Orio al Serio 177km / Milano-Linate 206km / Milano-Malpensa 263km / Venezia-Marco Polo 293km

TRAIN: Trento (75 km)

SKI FACTS: 4 snowparks to practise snowboarding and freestyling / 1 World Cup Piste (Canalone Miramonti)

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Pinzolo Town

Pinzolo is a pretty little town sitting at 770 metres in the Italian Trentino region. It might be lower than its big sister Madonna di Campiglio 1524 metres just up the road, but it has some unique traits which make it a good choice for a Winter Ski trip. It has a large selection of hotels and some truly fantastic restaurants in the town, which has some lovely old streets and architecture. We stayed at the Albergo Alla Posta in a newly renovated room which was cosy and very spacious. It also runs a great shuttle service to the ski slopes.

It is Italy, so the food is going to be divine; we can highly recommend Ristorante Rendener with its delicious ingredients beautifully presented in modern surroundings. Another restaurant that you must not miss is Restaurant Mildas, housed in a very old building, with parts of it over 1000 years old; Franca, Raul and Alessia will make you feel at home. The dining area was the crypt of a monastery during the mediaeval period, but it makes for fabulous surroundings. Top quality ingredients are lovingly prepared to enhance all of the natural flavours this is Italian dining at its best all in beautifully classic surroundings.

In Pinzolo’s history, the area was hit with poverty after the First World War and many of the locals left to look for better lives across the globe; luckily things have improved a lot since then and it is quite the winter destination. Also, keep an eye out for the 10th-century church of San Vigilio with its extraordinary fresco ‘The Danse Macabre’, with skeletons everywhere, it is not what you usually see in a ski resort. 

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Skiing in Pinzolo

The Pra Radont gondola followed by the Doss Del Sabion Chair from Pinzolo takes one up to 2100 metres and delivers you to what I think is one of the best local views of the Dolomites, the row of Dolomiti di Brenta Mountains are spectacular and photograph well from this particular point. Pinzolo has its own ski area which covers 30kms and has some of the most enjoyable skiing in the area. With many of the pistes facing roughly north, the snow was perfect when we visited despite the warmer temperatures down in the valley. 

The Pinzolo Ski area tends to remain pretty quiet throughout the day compared to other parts of the connected area, which we always like; there were times that we skied a piste with very few people on site. It has all types of piste from gentle to fairly steep. Apparently, during the summer of 2023, a new gondola was built including underground lift stations and a new Gourmet mountain hut. We will have to go back.

The Pinzolo ski area links into the Madonna di Campiglio ski area via the Campiglio Express 1 & 2 gondolas which take you across the valley, tip: make sure you leave enough time to get home on the return gondolas. The Madonna di Campiglio area is fairly vast with three two more areas to explore: Madonna di Campiglio itself and Folgarida-Marilleva encompassing 156 km of connected pistes. A nice touch is that at the top of each piste is a sign which displays the length of the piste and the % angle of the piste with maximum and minimum steepness.

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BEGINNER
Pinzolo has a small ‘Family Park’ for the little ones at the top of the Pra Radont gondola. Beyond that there are a few blue pistes, but some of the mountain can get steep quite quickly after that. 

INTERMEDIATE
The red pistes around Pinzolo are great fun and varied with wide open above-tree-line skiing which then transforms into tree-lined runs which are certainly worth a visit. Intermediates will enjoy travelling across to Madonna di Campiglio, but returning to Pinzolo where there are fewer skiers will always be welcoming.

EXPERT
Pinzolo actually has some great black pistes with really great pitches which are mostly North facing so the snow tends to stay in good shape. The black piste back down to Pinzolo really depends on the temperature as to whether it is open.

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Ecology & Sustainability Facts

-2004: Funivie Pinzolo Spa was one of the first cable lift companies in Italy to obtain the ISO 14001:20015 environmental certification for the management of the ski lifts, ski slopes and the snow-making system. 

-2022: Funivie Pinzolo Spa obtaines ARB SBpa integrated sustainability certification “Si Rating”. The certificate acknowledges Funivie’s commitment to improving the environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact, following the 17 goals set by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda.

-2023: Funvie Pinzolo Spa achieves carbon neutrality, 3379.9 tons of CO2 saved.

Pinzolo
Trento 
Italy

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Author

  • Adam Attew

    Ski is life and life is ski, but when Adam is not skiing he is an accomplished Alpine Landscape artist specialising in winter scenes and has exhibited in London, Austria and beyond. With over 40 years of skiing experience from ski touring to Giant Slalom, Adam is a BASI-qualified Ski and Telemark instructor and is also a member of the prestigious Kandahar Ski Club. Despite his love of G&Ts; health and nutrition are a way of life for Adam who has lived Paleo or 'eating like a caveman' for over 20 years.

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