Skiing, snowboarding and freestyle: Valtellina on the slope for quality tourism

"Tirano bypass where are you/ on the newspaper you've been there but on the asphalt never/ MilanoCortina TV sprint/ but to get there we take the punitive route..."

There are those who have even made a rap on social media, which begins with these emblematic verses; to laugh, of course, but only up to a certain point. If the legendary Stelvio slope in Bormio is ready to host the great challenges of alpine skiing and the sprint trials of ski mountaineering (a discipline making its absolute debut at the Games); if Livigno awaits fans from all over the world for the freestyle and snowboarding aces, the real bet will in fact be to get there, in Valtellina. The Tirano variant should have been completed last 31 December; the deadline was missed, while work is underway to complete the first section of just over 3 km.

Looking at it a few days before the start of the Games, on 6 February, this seems to be the most complicated challenge that Valtellina (and not only...) must face, and necessarily win. Others, of games, and it must also be said with justifiable pride, have already been won.

On the subject of traffic, the municipalities have meanwhile done their part, as the first citizen of Bormio Silvia Cavazzi explains: "We have worked hard to create the roundabouts and the spaces for the arrival of the so-called park & ride, and then manage the arrival of visitors and the flow of spectators. The experience accumulated in more than forty years of World Cup races comes in handy, because the calculations are made on those same numbers: about 7,220 spectators per men's Alpine ski race, which will become 4,200 for the Alpine ski races. What changes is the circus around it, with 1,100 volunteers, law enforcement officers, representatives of sponsors, institutions, media estimated at around 4,800 people per Alpine ski race. Therefore, all the areas involved will be included, from the days before the start of the Games, in an Olympic Ztl, divided into areas, which can only be accessed by car with specific passes, even for residents, while spectators will have exchange parking spaces, even at the Tirano train station. Obligatory to inform oneself, therefore, to avoid hindrances. And in the meantime, one looks to the sky because the snow, invoked to give sense and technical credibility to the Games, may transform the access to the valley and the 37 km that divide Bormio from Livigno into a toboggan in which it could be very complex to untangle.

From 160 euros to a minimum of 300 for two tickets for the competitions; at least 1659 euros for a weekend in a hotel for two people (an increase of 437% compared to a non-Olympic weekend in January); another 354 euros for two round-trip tickets by train from Milan. The data processed by Altroconsumo are merciless, and crown - so to speak - Valtellina as the Olympic venue with the highest increase in the cost of hotels and other accommodation during the period of the Games. A certainly not enviable record, to avoid which the local institutions have tried, with relative success, to mediate. Samanta Antonioli, Bormio's councillor in charge, among other things, of hotel accommodation and the Olympics: 'We have talked to the operators to make them understand that the Olympic event should not only be seen as an opportunity in the immediate future, but will also generate positive effects in the medium and long term; then of course it is the market that makes the price, and we will see if those who have proposed disproportionate offers will be competitive. On the other hand, the Valtellina is not aiming at a hit-and-run tourism, but to exploit the five-ring showcase to attract highly profitable customers also from new foreign markets, looking for a tourist who can spend a few tens (or hundreds...) of euro more in order to obtain high quality services: "We will host snowboarding and freestyle, very spectacular and popular disciplines in the United States, but also in Asia - clarifies Luca Moretti, director and managing director of the Livigno Tourist Board -: the real result of the investments and renovations made by our hotel sector for the Games will be seen in 2027, after Valtellina will have entered the homes of millions of potential visitors around the world".