Madesimo Ski Resort: Introducing Italy's hidden skiing gem

If you’re wondering if every European ski resort has gone a bit minor-royals-and-members bars, where you need to flex your credit limit to buy a simple plate of chips in a mountain hut, and the chalets are so luxurious, they must be designed for people who don’t plan on actually leaving them to snap on a pair of skis, then I’ve found the place for you: Madesimo.

Just a couple of hours north of Milan in the Spluga Valley area of the Lombardia region, and close to the Swiss border, it was popular with Brits twenty years ago (ask an old hand, and it’s likely they learnt to ski here) but the resort’s kept a low profile since.

It’s modernised, of course, with an extensive network of speedy chair lifts, snow making machines to extend the season, and plenty of mid-range hotels. But it’s still largely unknown and it’s refreshingly all about the skiing so there’s not a sushi bar or a floor-length-fur-coated-Russian in sight.

What this means is that there are no lift queues. In fact I meet a young Polish family, who have chosen a 950 mile drive to Madesimo over skiing in their home country, for exactly that reason.  I’m visiting over half term and I don’t queue for a lift once.

[Spring Breaks: Lagoons, snow and winter sun]
[Top tips for taking your children skiing]

Skiing
Madesimo is a big resort; 12 high speed lifts, 4587 feet of vertical descent, and 32 pistes covering 34 miles. That’s a lot of skiing. There are plenty of beginner’s runs, and there’s a great snow-park for Sochi-inspired snowboarders to hit the half pipes, but I think it’s greatest plus is the intermediate skiing.

The red runs dominate; they’re expertly pisted, well linked so there are endless variations to take from each lift, and they’re steep and challenging. My favourites are off the Cima Sole chairlift and I happily spend hours on a couple of the gloriously long and varied red runs.

Another big plus is that all these lifts and endless runs come at a good price; a six day adult’s lift pass is €135. Better, plenty of hotels offer great deals at certain times.  If you visit between 30th March and 27th April (yup, including Easter), they’ll throw in a free ski pass.

Most hotels are in walking distance of the lifts, ours is just outside the centre; it’s cosy and friendly and there’s a constant shuttle to the lifts.

The Après Ski
Après ski centres on one pedestrianised street in town (refreshingly retro, so many resorts start après on the slopes, making it more pendent-ski). We start with a glass of Prosecco and local speciality bresaola (air dried beef) at the glamorous champagne bar Bollicine. It’s been a family business since the 1930s and the current boss is a dashing man who greets everyone with a warmly enthusiastic ‘Ciao darling’. The Bette Davis line ‘There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne’ is painted on the wall in Italian. I hear you Bette.

There are a couple of nightclubs, the Queens Club, and Disco Tender, which holds theme nights (how retro is that?). But, come on, it’s Italy, it’s all about the food.

So we head off to the magical must-see Dogana Vegia, another family run restaurant and set in the old custom house. It’s romantic; all dark wood, wood burners, seductive lighting, cosy corners and quirky memorabilia (like a collection of old fashioned alarm clocks on one wall).  Again, we don’t ask for a menu, and numerous generous courses of delicious pasta, roast pork, and creamy local red wine will appear.
As ever, I convince myself that I need the blow-out, due to all that skiing. And there really is all that skiing. Rolling home I’m thrilled to have discovered Madesimo; putting the skiing back into, well, skiing.

Top Tips
Plan your trip right and stop off in Lake Como for lunch on the way to the resort and pray that George Clooney is in residence and feeling peckish at the same time as you.

Hire a guide and take the giant Groppera cable car up to the very top of the mountain, ski the four red routes that run behind it, accessed by the Serenissima chairlift, and then the Canalone (it means large couloir) down. It’s a steep descent, easily equivalent to a tricky black run, marked but not pisted and regarded by experts to be one of the greatest European runs. (I’ll have to take their word for it.)

For a really unusual evening, hire a snowmobile (it’s €85 to drive or €55 as a passenger with a guide) and zip to the mountain refuge Osteria Amalia.  It’s a family run place (named after the couple’s young daughter). The wife cooks, and the husband serves the guests, beaming with pride.  We don’t even see a menu, but endless delicious and giant portions of gnocchi or local dish pizzocheri (pasta, potatoes and cheese) appear.  Not a salad in sight. Mains are really good value at about €10.

Momentum Ski (020 7371 9111, www.momentumski.com) 7 nights half board at the 4* Boscone Suite Hotel, Madesimo, from £ 778.00 per person based on 2 sharing a Standard double room. Price includes flights between London Gatwick and Milan Malpensa and private transfers. Find out more at Madesimo.com.