Experience the best of Cervinia

Cervinia sits in a high bowl at around 2,000 metres at the head of the Valtournenche, directly beneath the south face of the Matterhorn, which the Italians call Monte Cervino. It grew in the twentieth century from Breuil, a hamlet of summer pasture huts, and its long, open, sunny slopes made it one of the best-known snowfields in the Italian Alps.

Cable cars climb to the Plateau Rosa glacier at around 3,500 metres, where skiing continues into summer, and lifts connect over the border to Zermatt, so a day on skis can end in another country. Lago Blu, a small lake near the village, reflects the mountain when the air is still. Guides from Valtournenche, including Jean-Antoine Carrel, took part in the race to climb the Matterhorn in the 1860s.

Valle d'Aosta food is hearty: fontina cheese, polenta, cured mocetta and lardo, and soups of bread, cabbage and fontina, followed by génépy, an alpine herb liqueur. Snow is reliable from late autumn to spring, and the lifts and paths open for walkers in the summer.