Bardonecchia

Bardonecchia is a town and comune in Piedmont in the upper Susa Valley. It is an important centre for winter sports with two ski areas: Colomion-Les Arnauds-Melezet and Jafferau. Bardonecchia is located in the center of a sunny valley, a starting point for enjoying the ski slopes in winter and the bike park in summer.

Understand

Bardonecchia is the last town in Italy before the border with France. It has a rich history, wonderful climate, and stunning views of the surrounding mountains.

Finds found on site indicate that the area was inhabited by populations of Celtic origin even before the period of Roman occupation of Gaul. Bardonecchia is mentioned for the first time in a document concerning the foundation of the Novalesa Abbey in 726. The construction of the Frejus railway tunnel to connect Turin to France railway tunnel gave Bardonecchia the status of a border town. This caused the population increase due to the presence of law enforcement agencies (railway police and others, Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza), and customs officials, transport agencies, and railway personnel.

In February 2006 Bardonecchia was one of the venues of the XX Winter Olympic Games, for which it hosted the snowboarding competitions; it was also home to one of the three Olympic villages. In January 2007 it hosted the alpine skiing and snowboarding competitions of the 2007 Turin Winter Universiade.

Get in

It is approximately 85 km west of Turin.

By road

Bardonecchia is served by the A32 Turin-Bardonecchia motorway through the Frejus road tunnel.

By train

• 1 Bardonecchia Station. Train station serviced by both Italian long distance trains and regular commuter trains to Turin. To get to Torino Porta Nuova generally takes about an hour and a half and costs €8.20. (updated Jun 2024)

See

• 1 Bramafam Fort (Forte Bramafam), Strada Nazionale Al Castello 2. Open every day in August, and Sundays in Jun Jul Sep Oct. Ancient castle, from which the 19th-century fort inherited its name. Used as a fortification to defend the square whose cannons pointed both towards the entrance of the railway tunnel and towards the road coming from the narrow valley, it is now used as a museum. (updated Jul 2024)

Do

In total there are more than 100 km of slopes and both areas are equipped with artificial snow systems . In addition to these there is an Olympic Half Pipe, a snow park, a boardercross, 17 km of cross-country ski trails and 10 km of marked trails for snowshoes.

• Colomion-Les Arnauds-Melezet ski area has 15 ski lifts; highest point reached 2,400 m above sea level from the Vallon Cros ski lift.
• Jafferau ski area has six ski lifts; the highest point reached is at 2,700 m above sea level.