Urban development

The town sits on the SS51 road, which connects Germany to the Veneto region of Italy and provides the main point of access for visitors. The nearest airport to Cortina d’Ampezzo is Treviso, 138 kilometres to the south, while the closest railway station is in Dobbiaco, 32 kilometres to the north. Bus services connect both Treviso and Dobiacco to the town.

In the years leading up to Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956, the Italian government invested 1.9 billion lire (equivalent to approximately 50 million euros today) in improving the existing road network. These improvements were already planned, but the pace of their implementation was accelerated by the staging of the Olympic Winter Games. They included repairing and widening the SS51 road, and building a new road between Cortina d’Ampezzo and the nearby village of Zuel, the site of the Trampolino d’Italia (the ski jumping venue). Another mountain road was built to link the town with the finish area of the Ilio Colli run, the venue for the men’s giant slalom. Those roads still serve the region and were improved before Cortina hosted the 2021 FIS Alpine World Championships.

Cortina d’Ampezzo was served by the “train of the Dolomites” at the time of the Games, with more services being laid on to ferry spectators to and from the town. The line, which ran to Dobbiaco, was closed in 1964 and is now used as a cross-country skiing route. A bus line still runs between Dobbiaco and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

A new post office was built in the town for the Games, while the local power grid, phone lines and water supply network were also expanded. Following demands from the town’s hotel owners, no Olympic Village was constructed, with athletes, their entourages and officials being accommodated in the region’s 42 hotels and ten boarding houses. The Organising Committee assisted owners with any necessary structural alterations. Cortina d’Ampezzo now has more than 60 hotels, guest houses and apartment buildings.