Ready for skiing holidays? This year the snow is generous and in Valle d'Aosta everything is ready for the fun of skiers, non-skiers and gourmets. We at "La Cucina Italian" went to Courmayeur it's at Cervinia to see the new and historical places to return to, because we always like them. Here our tips, updated.

Courmayeur and surroundings

Lunch in the valley
Café Quinson in Morgex. Agostino Buillas, chef and bricoleur, does everything himself with the help of his wife, sister-in-law and daughter. Family-run, chalet-style dining room, kitchen open to guests who want to witness the ongoing work of a modern, but 100% regional menu. For starters: macarons and wafers stuffed with trout, fontina cheese and mountain butter, and “su-sci” with carne salada or salmon trout wrapped in white rice and Arnad lard. The main dishes: ravioli with sweetbreads or vegetables, and raised Valle d'Aosta cow. The wine list? It is an encyclopedic tome with a leather cover and hundreds of labels chosen by Buillas, one of the first sommeliers of the Aosta Valley. Its also the menu in the typical Skyway restaurant (montebianco.com), the most hi-tech cable car in Europe.

On the slopes
But Courmayeur is the worldly destination for skiing. On top of the eggs of the Dolonne they opened the new generation refuges. Chocolate with cream around the brazier on the panoramic terrace; or bubbles and royal plateaus in front of the fireplace at the Loge du Massif, intimate and romantic. While at SuperG the offer ranges from hot dog with Italian sparkling wine and DJ set for after ski to Andrea Berton's dishes: spaghetti with seafood and bottarga (or polenta with truffle), roast chicken with potato wreath, and Montebianco flambé. In the evening, the return to the village is with the snowcat. Or you can sleep at high altitude in one of the six upstairs bedrooms.

After ski
"Courma", as regulars call it, has its rituals. Spritz and negroni meet at Caffè della Posta amid low lights, a lit fireplace and chatter. If, on the other hand, you want a sample cocktail, you have to go to the Massif hotel. The new five-star hotel has won Berny Ferro, the best bartender in the valley. To understand the level, just order his Genepito, an alpine version of mohito with local genepì, chopped lime, brown sugar, fresh mint and ginger ale. But the menu is much wider and ranges between pre and after dinner, bubbles, 16 whiskeys, 10 rums and as many non-alcoholic cocktails to drink sitting on the sofas in the living room.

The starry dinner
The address is historic: Hotel Royal & Golf. Its Le Petit Royal restaurant is a few months old and already the first Michelin star, guide 2020. Chef Paolo Griffa, 28, makes a simple beetroot walker special (with goat's cheese with herbs, fennel crackers and salad with vinaigrette of kombucha and walnut oil) or a pumpkin cream (and yarrow kefir yarrow, bergamot foam with pistachios and a pumpkin seed foam to make the shoe). The dessert is a work of art: the biscuit and gingerbread house filled with vanilla mousse and lemon icing, the snowman made with hazelnut Bavarian and coffee mousse and chocolate hat, the ice cream pinetto pistachio breaded in a matcha and yuzu tea cake. The experience far exceeds the story.

Where to sleep
The Auberge de la Maison, a small female-run hotel in Entreves, a few minutes from Courmayeur, at the foot of Mont Blanc. Alessandra Garin, the owner, grew up with a father who was fond of antiques, who went for pastures to buy old huts, and a modern interior decorator mother. And she conveyed family passions to Auberge by demonstrating how two very different styles can make the atmosphere special. Each environment is intimate and speaks of the place. Tortelli in pumpkin and guanciale sauce arrive at the table, polenta in cocotte with fontina, mushrooms and egg and truffle, chestnuts with cream: all very comfortable! In the spa the sauna is done in hay and the massages are with mountain herbs. The style is contemporary alpine, with pottery and old collectible tableware, and the windows frame Mont Blanc.

Cervinia

Gourmet half board
For those who love mountains and skiing, Cervinia is in the top list of the Aosta Valley, and the Hotel Hermitage is its elegant refuge, the quintessence of the pensions of the past. In the Relais & Chateaux at the foot of the Matterhorn, the Alpine Bengodi prevails. The half board menu is signed by Francesco Sposito (two Michelin stars at the Taverna Estia, near Naples), exemplary executed by Gabriele Avanzi. We recommend: "25 cm of plin" with fontina fondue and veal with Barolo veal, venison fillet with roasted pumpkin puree, rhubarb and red fruit chutney, salmon roe and game jus with spices and "royal millefeuille" ”With vanilla cream and salted caramel. The wine to try is undoubtedly the Monaja 300, produced by a Valle d'Aosta-Korean winemaker. Super.

The evening
Samovaran the meeting point of Cervinia from après ski to after dinner.

Traditional lunch
Beef carbonada marinated and cooked in red wine, polenta on the fire and the typical Seupa à la Vapelenentse (bread, broth, fontina, cabbage and leek soup, baked au gratin) at the La Clusaz inn in Gignod.

5 things to buy

The fontina, mountain pasture (the summer one) or all year round at the Magazzino della Fontina Dop, with shop, museum of the cooperative founded 50 years ago and traveled through the old mine where the forms mature.

Arnad Dop lard and boudin (salami with beetroot and potatoes) by Pietro Laurent.

Berries and balsamic vinegars with pear or apple with Douce Vallée, in Chatillon.

Rye bread, torcetti and panettone baked Le coin du pain (Bret 13 / B, Chef-Lieu, Aosta): the owner Christian Trione is champion in international bakery competitions.

The typical Aosta Valley sweets flantze (with dried and candied fruit) and micoula (with chestnuts, walnuts, figs and raisins) at the La Bonne Vallée bakery.

The Chaudelune meditation wine at Morgex Cave Mont Blanc.

Photo by Pier Lomascolo.
Text by Sara Magro