Livigno: Italy's 'Little Tibet'

By Jon Van Housen and Mariella Radaelli

When the hardy residents of Livigno gave a cask of wine to the Capuchin friars of Bormio in the 8th century to gain autonomy for their high valley, they couldn’t have known they were setting a precedent that would continue down through the ages, even up until today.

Isolated far from the centers of power that variously controlled Italy, surrounded by the Alps and a crossroads for smugglers, Livigno enjoyed the independence of benign neglect and thrived on trans-mountain trade in the centuries that followed. The Austrian Empire confirmed its autonomy in the 18th century and the government of Italy upheld the tradition in 1910, granting the commune tax-free status.

Today Livigno’s duty-free prices for gasoline, alcohol, tobacco and a range of other commodities draw visitors from across Italy and even adjacent Switzerland and Austria.


Livigno in summer
But the Lombardy mountain village has an attraction that makes it even more alluring. The snow and towering peaks that long gave it protection from political vagaries have been turned into a well-designed haven for skiing and winter sports. With six gondolas, 13 high-speed chairlifts, 115 kilometers of skiable terrain and 40 kilometers of cross country ski trails, Livigno attracts more than 1 million visitors each winter.

Winding along a narrow strip following the Spoel River, the town is a winter wonderland flanked by twin ski mountains that cater to the full range of abilities.

The enchanting 12 km-long valley nestled between Engadine and Upper Valtellina is also called Little Tibet for its historic isolation and freezing winter temperatures. The challenging environment in turn gave rise to the carb-heavy food typical of the valley such as pizzoccheri buckwheat pasta with savoy cabbage, Swiss chard, potatoes and the local cheeses bitto and casera.

Unlike many modern ski areas that have undergone almost constant redevelopment, Livigno retains its rustic charm with picturesque log cabin chalets, some of them 600 years old. Known as ‘báit’ in the local dialect, the log cabins gave shelter through the long winter to sheep farmers who during the short summer also grew hay, the only crop to thrive at that altitude. The local history museum resides in a ‘baita’ that dates back more than 300 years.


The rest of this story published on Sept.29 in the print and online editions of the national L'Italo-Americano newspaper based in Monrovia, California is available here (pdf).

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