The Olympic Village in Bardonecchia is still alive after 20 years, the Winter Olympics helped it develop

Bardonecchia (Italy) November 8 - The organizers of the Winter Olympics, which will take place in Milan and Italian Alpine resorts in February 2026, have set sustainability and minimizing environmental impacts as one of their goals. In practice, this means, for example, that they have built only a minimum of new accommodation capacities and sports facilities. The last Winter Olympics on Italian territory in 2006 in Turin, which was a pioneer in the sustainability of organizing the Winter Olympics, was carried out in a similar spirit - albeit on an even smaller scale. Some of the newly built capacities found other uses after the games, but others are falling into disrepair. The organization of the Olympics had a positive impact in particular on the Piedmont resorts of Bardonecchia and Sestriere.

The town of Bardonecchia in the Val di Susa region on the Italian-French border near the Fréjus tunnel experienced its tourist rebirth 20 years ago. Bardonecchia, located an hour's drive from Turin, was one of the cradles of Italian alpine skiing and ski mountaineering at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The first ski jump in Italy was built there a hundred years ago, and the first lifts were launched here in the 1930s.

After World War II, however, the extensive Italian resorts in the Dolomites, the Valtellina Valley and Trentino gradually gained more popularity, such as Cortina d'Ampezzo, Livigno, Bormio and Val di Fiemme. These are the ones that will host the Winter Olympics in 2026.

Twenty years ago, the organizers of the Winter Olympics chose Bardonecchia as the venue for snowboarding events, including the premiere of snowboardcross. A completely new facility was built in the resort for these competitions. The cable cars and slopes have been modernized. At the same time, one of the three Olympic villages was created in Bardonecchia - in addition to snowboarders, biathletes also lived there.

For this purpose, the organizers chose a historic building that had been built in the 1930s under the fascist regime as a convalescent home, especially for city children, who were supposed to improve their health and hygiene, but also their discipline, during their stay. The complex was renovated and expanded for the 2004-2005 Winter Olympics. After the Olympics, it became part of the commercial accommodation offer in Bardonecchia.

The Olympic Village, which has almost 1,000 beds, several dining rooms, a swimming pool and a wellness center, is mainly used by larger groups, such as school ski courses, but also by families with children, who can find less expensive accommodation here. The village includes extensive parking lots and a ski bus stop, which takes skiers to the cable car stations in a few minutes.

Unlike the resorts in northern Italy, you will not find Czech skiers there. You will not find Bardonecchia in the offer of Czech travel agencies and individual travelers are probably deterred by the great distance. It is 1,100 kilometers from Prague to Bardonecchia.

With 100 kilometers of slopes, 23 cable cars and lifts and a snow park, Bardonecchia is a resort for all ski levels. In the past 20 years, it has hosted the Winter Universiade twice, and a snowboarding World Cup race was also held here.

In January this year, in addition to the Universiade, it also hosted the 70th winter meeting of the International Ski Club of Skiing Journalists (SCIJ), which found its facilities in the Olympic Village. During the stay of 130 journalists from 25 countries, the capacity of the “village” was used to the maximum, along with several school courses.

After the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Olympic Village in the Sestriere resort, 30 kilometers away, where downhill and cross-country skiers lived, suffered a similar fate to that in Bardonecchia.

In contrast, the main Olympic village in Turin faced significant difficulties after the Games. The complex, built on the foundations of a former large fruit market, was abandoned after the Olympics and was occupied illegally by 1,200 refugees and asylum seekers in 2013. Turin City Hall forcibly evicted them from the site and later converted the site into university dormitories and social housing with regulated rents.

However, specialized sports venues, such as the ski jumping area in Pragelato or the bobsleigh and luge track in Cesana, have not found further use. However, the deterioration of ski jumping and luge areas is a chronic problem that has been faced by almost every Winter Games organizer over the past 40 years.

Next year, bobsledders, lugers and skeleton racers will compete in Cortina d'Ampezzo in a renovated area from the 1956 Olympics. This reconstruction, the only project in the preparations for the 2026 Winter Olympics, has faced criticism due to its sharp increase in costs and negative environmental impacts.

Cortina will also host the only newly built Olympic Village outside Milan. It will consist of mobile homes that will be dismantled and relocated after the Winter Olympics.

In other mountain resorts, Olympians, implementation teams and journalists will be accommodated in ordinary hotels and guesthouses. In Predazzo in Val di Fiemme, classic skiers will stay in the renovated area of ​​the customs ski school, which will also use the building after the Games.

Despite the problems with the Turin Olympic Village and the “Olympic ghosts” in the form of some dilapidated sites, the legacy of the Winter Olympics in Turin and the entire Piedmont region is still perceived positively by local residents, according to public opinion polls 20 years later. Turin has transformed from an industrial city, known mainly for the Fiat car company, into a tourist, business and congress center and has become one of the most visited Italian cities.

Czech press agency | WT.24