Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956: Olympic venues overview
Eight venues were used at the Olympic Winter Games Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956, five of them existing, one new, and the other two were temporary. Four of the venues are still in use.
The five existing venues were the slopes at Tofana di Mezzo and Monte Faloria (Alpine skiing), the Pista di Bob Eugenio Monti (bobsleigh), the Ski Jump Italia/Trampolino d’Italia (ski jumping), and the Apollonio Stadium (ice hockey).
Tofana di Mezzo staged the men’s and women’s downhill, the men’s and women’s slaloms and the women’s giant slalom at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956, while Monte Faloria hosted the men’s giant slalom.
The men’s downhill was held on the Olympia delle Tofane run, the venue for most of the women’s races and all the Alpine combined races at the 2021 FIS Alpine World Championships. The run has been hosting FIS Women’s Alpine Ski World Cup races for the last 28 years and will be used for the Alpine events at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
The Pista di Bob Eugenio Monti was first built with snow and ice in 1906 and renamed in honour of the legendary Italian bobsledder and two-time Olympic champion Eugenio Monti, following his death in 2003. The venue hosted nine bobsleigh world championships between 1937 and 1989 and was closed in 2008.
The Trampolino d’Italia has been disused since 1990, when its FIS certificate for international competitions expired. The most modern ski jumps in the world at the time of its construction, and the venue for the first round of the inaugural FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in 1979, it featured in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
The Apollonio Stadium staged some of the matches in the ice hockey competition. It is now primarily used for tennis and is home to the town’s country club.
The Olympic Ice Stadium, now known as the Stadio Olimpico del Ghiaccio, was the only new venue at the VII Olympic Winter Games. It hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, ice hockey matches – including the final – and the figure skating competitions. Now a multi-purpose complex, it was the venue for the 2010 Curling World Championships and will host the curling competitions at the Olympic Winter Games Milan Cortina 2026. The stadium is open to the public for recreational use and is the home of several local ice hockey, figure skating, short track, speed skating, curling and broomball clubs.
One of the two temporary venues at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 was the Snow Stadium, which hosted the cross-country skiing competitions and was dismantled after the Games, as planned.
The other one was Lake Misurina Rink, which was used for the last Olympic Winter Games speed skating competition to be held on natural ice. It remains popular with tourists, attracted by its picturesque surroundings and the range of activities on offer there.