The city of Bardonecchia, in the province of Turin in Val di Susa, has become famous all over the world also for being in February 2006 one of the venues of the XX Winter Olympics, during which it hosted the snowboard races. Known as one of the most beautiful ski resorts in Italy, I decide to visit it on a cold winter day.

Located a few kilometers from the French border, I have to walk a stretch of tunnel about 13 kilometers long before the renowned mountain town opens before my eyes throughout the its beauty. The panorama offered me is wonderful, to take your breath away with high snowy mountains that reflect blinding the sunlight.

There are three ski areas offered by Bardonecchia that offers skiers a Olympic Half Pipe, a snow park, a boardercross for the delight of all snowboarding lovers like me. Going down the track towards Bardonecchia, admiring the wonderful panorama offered me by this extraordinary territory surrounded by the mountains.

Bardonecchia consists of two distinct villages, the Borgo Vecchio and the Borgo Nuovo, Bardonecchia is an international Alpine destination. Its notoriety is linked above all to the favorable position, in the center of a sunny basin and little beaten by the icy winter winds, starting point for taking advantage, skiing feet, of the slopes located in four distinct areas.

The road that leads from Turin to Bardonecchia (about 90km) is very controlled is modernized, and if you are in a hurry you can take advantage of the very comfortable Frejus motorway. For these reasons Bardonecchia looks closer from year to year, beautiful and white to the entrance of the Fréjus tunnel, which connects with France. Many hotels and apartments in the city have been refurbished in recent years, Bardonecchia is now the leader among the localities amp; agrave; summer and winter holiday.

Ski at Campo Smith-Colomion, Les Arnauds, Mélezet-Valle Stretta and Fregiusia-Jafferau, for a total of 140 kilometers of slopes, divided into 7 black, 23 red and 25 tracks blue, on slopes served by 7 chairlifts and 25 ski lifts.

The heart of Bardonecchia is the first area: from Campo Smith start the two chairlifts (a two-seater) that arrive in Pian del Sole at an altitude of 1550 meters, from where a ski lift climbs to the top of the Colomion. From here the tour will start, which can also be held on the slopes of the Les Arnauds and Mélezet lifts, adjacent to each other, with a ski gap of about thousand meters that become 1450 moving west on Mount Jafferau.

Cross-country skiing enthusiasts will be able to choose between three loops able to offer 30 kilometers of track: Ø Campo Smith for beginners; Ø Pian del Colle for lo average skier; Ø for the experienced skier 22 challenging kilometers connecting Sauze d'Oulx to the Stretta valley of Bardonecchia.

The city offers some monuments and churches, the Bramafam fortress I have found very interesting, a fortress, where the cannons were set towards the railway tunnel and the valley road, to protect the Frejus tunnel. The building is now a museum. The Frejus tunnel was opened for the railway at the end of the 19th century. Century, and so it became a frontier city of Bardonecchia. Today the city is located on the Turin - Paris railway line, in the 80s a gallery for cars was also opened.

A place also appreciated by lovers of good food, in Bardonecchia you can taste excellent mountain pasture cheeses with good jams of apples and wild pears , as well as typical local cured meats.