Servane Giol, a keen expert on Cortina, has dedicated an entire book to the identity of this town, published by Marsilio Arte. Just days before the start of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, she describes her experience as an ambassador and talks once more about the “Queen of the Dolomites”

The news takes me completely by surprise: I have the honour of being chosen and appointed ambassador of Cortina d’Ampezzo for 2026 in preparation for the Winter Olympic Games.
Franco Sovilla, of the excellent Sovilla bookstore, has an idea for this new role: to represent Cortina’s values ​​and speak on its behalf at this important time for the city.
Talk about Cortina d’Ampezzo? That’s easy for me. For a year I’ve done nothing but talk about it all the time at the numerous presentations for my latest book, The Queen of the Dolomites. Living in Cortina d’Ampezzo, published by Marsilio Arte. This book, which talks about the style of life and history of this place through its interiors, took me over two years to research. First-hand accounts, private archives, and above all, beautiful literature from the last century, I explored it all.
I soon met the other ambassadors (about twenty) and was very impressed. Former Olympic champions in skating, skiing, and bobsleigh… I quickly saw that they had a huge advantage: besides all being Italian, they know firsthand what the Olympics are and how much their presence impacts a city.
Little by little, Cortina got a makeover, with new hotels, new restaurants, and above all, a shiny new bobsleigh track. The city became a construction site of unexpected but necessary proportions. The Olympic village took shape in Fiames, and the adrenaline began to rise. Even the press was interested, not only nationally but also globally, across all media: radio, television, daily newspapers, weeklies, monthly magazines… everyone wanted their share of this small town, so Italian, yet so unknown abroad, despite a few successful films.
I saw the arrival of Polish television, followed by Canadian radio… and many others.
Their curiosity is genuine: what makes Cortina d’Ampezzo so unique that it will host the second Winter Olympic Games in seventy years?
For me, Cortina’s uniqueness lies in its duality. A history made up of two traditions, Venetian and Tyrolean. It’s the only place in the world where two cultures blend so harmoniously, from the clothing style to the dishes in local restaurants to the two languages ​​spoken, Italian and Ladin.
Another thing that makes it special is that Cortina existed before the birth of winter sports and exists even outside the ski season. It’s a year-round town that has inspired generations of dreamers. Its incredible landscapes, its quintessentially Italian dolce vita: time stands still here. You can still sit at the same table as Hemingway at the Hotel de la Poste and drink the same Valpolicella. The clothes worn on the main street are exactly the same ones photographed by Slim Aarons in the 1960s. Cortina is a treasure trove, a quintessentially Italian snapshot.
The Olympics will soon shine the world’s spotlight on it; Cortina thinks it’s ready; it’s already had this experience.

Servane Giol

BIO
Servane Giol, French by birth and Venetian by adoption, has worked in publishing for years, collaborating with, among others, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue Germany. She is the cultural director of the Alliance française in Venice. She published Soul of Venice (Versailles, 2014), which won the silver medal at the Independent Publishers Award in 2021. For Marsilio Arte she published Un invito a Venezia (Venice, 2022) and The Queen of the Dolomites. Living in Cortina d’Ampezzo (2024).

Image captions:

The cover of the book by Servane Giol, The Queen of the Dolomites. Living in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Marsilio Arte, Venice 2024

Servane Giol. Photo credit Mattia Aquila

Image from the Zeno archive and featured in the book by Servane Giol, The Queen of the Dolomites. Living in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Marsilio Arte, Venice 2024 (cover photo)