Piedmont skiing with Barolo and Barbaresco access

How to Complete

5 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. ⛰️ 1

   Ski the Olympic Downhill Where History Was Made in 2006

   adventure $$

   This is the actual 2006 Winter Olympics men's downhill course — 3.3km long, 914 vertical metres of drop. On February 12th 2006, the world's fastest ski racers launched themselves off this exact point at the Kandahar Banchetta piste, accessed from the Monte Motta summit lifts at Sestriere (2,035m). Start point is at 2,800m elevation. The name 'Kandahar' comes from a ski club founded in 1924 by Lord Roberts of Kandahar — a British general who loved alpine skiing. You can ski the whole thing top to bottom as a red run, or challenge yourself on the steeper sections the racers hit at 140km/h. Buy a Via Lattea day pass at the Sestriere ticket office (Piazzale Fraiteve) or online at vialattea.it — adult day ticket €51-€58.50. Take the Banchetta gondola from Sestriere village to the upper station.

   🔄 BACKUP: If conditions on the Olympic piste are closed or icy, the adjacent Banchetta red run drops the same vertical through the same terrain at slightly gentler gradient. Still spectacular. Still Olympic-adjacent.

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2. 🍷 2

   Toast the Slopes at Kandahar Wine Bar with a Glass of Nebbiolo

   wine $

   Here's the thing nobody explains about Sestriere: you're skiing at 2,035 metres in Piedmont, which means you're geographically inside the same region that produces Barolo and Barbaresco — two of the world's greatest wines. The Nebbiolo grape that makes both of them gets its name from 'nebbia' (fog) — the same alpine fog that rolls up these very valleys every autumn, slowing the grapes' ripening to a crawl and building impossible complexity. A glass of Nebbiolo d'Alba at Kandahar Wine Bar (Via Kandahar, Sestriere, at the base of the mountain, a few minutes' walk from the main slope exit) is you drinking the mountain you just skied. Arrive between 4-6pm, peak après-ski hour. Ask specifically for a Nebbiolo d'Alba — lighter, more approachable than Barolo; same grape, different rules — typically €6-9/glass.

   🔄 BACKUP: Bar Abba on Piazza Fraiteve does an excellent aperitivo spread (drink + small plates) for roughly €10. Also worth a visit for the Piedmontese snacks — bagna cauda (warm anchovy and garlic dip with vegetables) and cured meats from the Langhe.

   🍷 Log Memory
3. 📜 3

   Find the Woman Who Invented Barolo Inside Her Own Castle Cellar

   history $

   In the 1830s, a French noblewoman named Juliette Colbert Falletti — Marchesa of Barolo, daughter of one of Louis XIV's ministers — hired a French enologist named Louis Oudart and told him: stop this wine fermenting sweet. Make it dry. Oudart did. The result became the wine the Piedmontese ruling class called 'The Wine of Kings, the King of Wines.' The Marchesa then sent 325 casks to King Carlo Alberto. He loved it. The modern Barolo was born in Castello di Barolo (Piazza Falletti 1, Barolo — 2 hours drive from Sestriere descending into the fog-draped Langhe hills). Inside: the WiMu Wine Museum occupies 25 rooms across multiple floors. The Enoteca Regionale del Barolo is in the actual cellars below — over 195 producers, wine tasting €20 for a guided 3-Barolo flight. Walk the village before entering — it takes 8 minutes to circle the entire village of Barolo on foot. Population: roughly 700 people. This tiny village has its name on a wine that sells globally for €50-€200+ per bottle. Open daily 10:30–19:00 from 15 March 2025.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the Enoteca is closed (or it's February), walk 200 metres to Borgogno winery (Via Gioberti 1) — founded 1761, oldest continuously operating winery in Barolo, vintage library going back decades, daily walk-in tasting. Ask to see the library.

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4. 🍷 4

   Taste Barbaresco in the Church Built to Thank God for Wine

   wine Free

   In the mid-1800s, the people of Barbaresco built the church of San Donato as a literal thank-you to God for their excellent wine harvest. They called their confraternity 'San Donato' and worshipped here for over a century. Then the church was deconsecrated, and the village turned it into a wine bar. Today, 142 Barbaresco producers are represented inside the Enoteca Regionale del Barbaresco (inside the former church at Via Torino, Barbaresco village — 30 minutes drive from Barolo). You're drinking Barbaresco inside a building that was constructed in gratitude for Barbaresco. Four wines are always open and poured for tasting, priced approximately €3-8 per glass. Walk in — no appointment needed. Barbaresco is Barolo's gentler sibling — same Nebbiolo grape, but from lighter limestone-clay soils. It's typically more approachable younger, more floral, more delicate.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the Enoteca is closed, Produttori del Barbaresco tasting room (Via Torino 54, literally 50 metres from the church) is your primary free tasting option. Founded 1958 by 19 farmers organized by the local parish priest Don Fiorino Cane.

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5. 📜 5

   Walk the Agnelli Towers and Understand Why FIAT Built a Ski Resort

   history Free

   In 1928, Giovanni Agnelli — founder of FIAT, arguably the most powerful industrialist in Italy — took a trip to Norway and watched people skiing. He went home to Turin and bought an entire Alpine pass. Not a plot of land: the whole pass. Then commissioned engineer Vittorio Bonadè Bottino to build a resort from zero. The result: Europe's first purpose-built ski resort, completed 1932. Walk around both towers at Piazza Fraiteve, Sestriere (takes 10 minutes) — the two cylindrical tower hotels: the white Grand Hotel Duchi d'Aosta and the red Hotel Torre (La Torre Rossa). Notice the spiral ramp that goes up the interior of each — no stairs, just a continuous ramp designed so skiers could walk up in ski boots without tripping. The towers that Agnelli built for workers became the 2006 Olympic accommodation. Not planned. Just Italy.

   🔄 BACKUP: The Sestriere tourist office at Piazza Agnelli 11 has free historical brochures (in English) about the Agnelli founding. Worth picking one up if you want the full architecture story.

   🍷 Log Memory

Insider Tips

• ✦

  Base yourself in Sestriere for skiing but plan a day trip to Langhe for Barolo tastings

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  The resort has good hotel wine lists featuring Piedmont producers - try before you visit

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  Combine with a stay in Alba or Barolo village for the ultimate ski + wine trip