Cortina Ambassadors 2026
Discover the Cortina Ambassadors 2026
Cortina d’Ampezzo is getting ready to turn the spotlight on the world with the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games Milano Cortina 2026. But even before the athletes hit the slopes, it’s the people, stories, and traditions of this territory that take centre stage.
This is how “Cortina Ambassadors 2026” was born, a project that gives voice and face to the truest identity of the Queen of the Dolomites. A mosaic of authentic portraits: athletes, ski instructors, artisans, young entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, local artists, as well as men and women who, every day, build Cortina’s living soul with passion and dedication.
Discover Cortina through the eyes of the Ambassadors, those who deeply love Cortina, who live, work, or have left a significant mark there. They are people who know the area in every nuance and who make themselves available to journalists and media to tell, in the first person, the true essence of Cortina: a place made not only of breathtaking landscapes, but of stories, values, and relationships. They want to show the world that the future of major events passes primarily through those who live and love their land. Because behind every success there are true stories, made of authenticity, passion, and vision.
Cortina isn’t just a destination: it’s a community. And it’s ready to tell its story.
Adriano Lorenzi
Category: SPORT
Adriano Lorenzi left his mark in Cortina in sport, business, and public service. He used to manage the Hotel Montana in Corso Italia and was a big deal in Cortina curling. He even played for the Italian national team, making his debut at the 1980 Junior World Championships in Canada. After that, he focused on coaching local teams and the youth division of the Curling Club Dolomiti. And get this: his university thesis was all about crime and deviance in 17th-century Cortina!
Alessandro Michielli
Category: BUSINESS/CRAFTMANSHIP
Alessandro Michielli's journey in the world of craftsmanship began with his family's ancient foundry, active since 1827, and evolved with his establishment of the farm Azienda Agricola Michielli in Vinigo di Cadore. Today, Michielli is president of local organisations for the promotion of the territory (Pro Loco), holds important provincial and regional roles within the same organisation, and leads the Cadore valley’s consortium. At Confartigianato Imprese Belluno - local Trade Association for Craftsmanship, he holds provincial and regional positions and, since 2021, collaborates as a volunteer on the major sporting events organised by Fondazione Cortina.
Alessia Follador
Category: SPORT
Former athlete of the Italian Snowboard National team, Alessia Follador competes in major international events such as the World Cup, the XGames, and the US Open. Today she is one of the most authoritative voices in winter sports: speaker for Gazzetta dello Sport, Eurosport, Sportitalia, and numerous World Cup events. She is the director of the "Be Free Cortina" ski school, where she shares her experience to train new generations of skiers and snowboarders.
Alexander Kraler
Category: BUSINESS/FASHION
Alexander Kraler drives the growth of the family company Franz Kraler, a leading luxury business with multi-brand boutiques in Dobbiaco, Cortina d'Ampezzo and Milan. With a Master's in Business Administration in the luxury sector, he brings the company into the digital age, combining tradition and innovation. Since 2023, he is on the board of Camera Buyer Italia, which represents the country's best luxury multi-brand stores, and will be the administrator of Chalet Franz Kraler, a new high-end hospitality project in Cortina, opening in December 2025.
Angela Menardi
Category: SPORT
Confined to a wheelchair since the age of 15, Angela Menardi is now a Paralympic athlete training for the Paralympic Games, which will take place at home in March 2026. She begins her sporting career with cross-country skiing and in 1992 she flies to France for the Albertville Paralympics. In 2007, she switches from snow to ice and dedicates herself to wheelchair curling, joining the Italian national team shortly after. She then participates in numerous world championships in her category and achieves fifth place at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics. Since 2018, she is a Federal Councillor representing the Athletes in the FISG (Italian Ice Sports Federation).
Angelo Pauletti
Category: CULTURE
For 30 years, Angelo Pauletti has been involved in modern and contemporary art exhibitions and works on important cultural events, collaborating with both public and private sectors. A former Councillor of the Fondazione Teatri delle Dolomiti, Angelo Pauletti comes every year to Cortina and stays with his partner in the wonderful house where the writer Goffredo Parise loved to spend winters in the 70s and 80s. Here Parise, like other writers of the era, finds inspiration and writes about Cortina, the snow, and skiing.
Anna Comarella
Category: SPORT
Athlete and student born in 1997, Anna Comarella has been cross-country skiing since she was 5 years old. After making a name for herself as a youngster with two relay medals at the Junior World Championships and winning the Junior European Cup, at just 21 years old the Fiamme Oro athlete flies to Pyeongchang for her first Olympics. Another Olympics and four World Championships follow, where Anna proudly represents Italy. Now everyone awaits the home Olympic Games!
Bruno Alberti
Category: SPORT
Bruno Alberti is undoubtedly one of the protagonists of Italian alpine skiing. He is called up for the 1956 Cortina Olympics but is forced to withdraw from the competition due to an injury. Four years later, at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games, he is chosen as flag bearer and achieves excellent results: sixth in the downhill and fifth in the giant slalom. During his career, he collects 12 medals at the Italian Championships, including 6 golds, and reaches the podium in the most important international races. He also participates in the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics, reaching a speed of 182.640 km/h at the flying kilometre. After retiring, he does not move away from the world of skiing: he becomes a federal coach, founds the “Scuola Sci Azzurra” ski school in Cortina d'Ampezzo - still active today - and for 25 years he serves as Race Director for the Women's Ski World Cup in Cortina.
Daniela Olivieri
Category: BUSINESS/FASHION
Originally from Verona, with a past in banking and music, Daniela Olivieri has supported her husband Franz Kraler since 1986, with the opening of their first boutique. In over 40 years of activity, she has contributed to the development of the company, which now boasts over 200 high-fashion brands and important sales points in Cortina d'Ampezzo, including the first alpine boutiques of Louis Vuitton and Dior. In December 2025, Chalet Franz Kraler will open in Cortina, marking the family's entry into the luxury hospitality sector.
Edoardo Alfonsi
Category: CRAFTMANSHIP/SPORT/CULTURE
Straddling local craftsmanship, sport, and culture, Edoardo Alfonsi is a multifaceted young man born and raised in Cortina. He is a gemmologist specialising in diamonds and runs, with his mother, a historic jewellery shop in the town centre that carries on the goldsmithing tradition. For sport, he embraces curling, which has led him to participate in Italian championships and international tournaments, and which he promotes with dedication through the Curling Club Dolomiti and Fondazione Cortina. As if that weren't enough, for 14 years he has played in the Cortina Musical Group, of which he is now a board member, keeping alive the connection with Ampezzo culture and traditional events.
Ferdinando Da Rin de Lorenzo
Category: CULTURE/SPORT
Ferdinando Da Rin de Lorenzo is an orthopaedic surgeon and professor with a decades-long internationally recognised career. He works at the Institute Codivilla-Putti in Cortina and later becomes its Director, while he is part of important global committees and societies for research in the field of bone infections and arthroscopy. Dedicated to sport, Ferdinando Da Rin de Lorenzo wins 3 Italian championships with Hockey Cortina and is for 20 years the healthcare manager during the Alpine Ski World Cup in Cortina. Social inclusion and disability are central themes in his activity, which lead him to organise significant congresses on disability in the mountains and promote inclusive dialogue between the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Flavio Menardi
Category: SPORT
A parabob athlete born in 2000, Flavio Menardi grows up in Cortina d’Ampezzo, just a stone's throw from the “Eugenio Monti” bobsleigh track. After playing ice hockey, an accident confines him to a wheelchair and forces him to change sports: here he discovers his career in the world of bobsleigh. With great dedication and willpower, the athlete from Bob Club Cortina, supported by the non-profit organisation The Game Never Ends, begins to gain recognition on the national stage, eventually winning the silver medal at the World Championships in Lillehammer in 2022: an indelible page in the history of Italian sport. Now the Ampezzan athlete divides his time between office work and training, dreaming of the next Paralympic Games that take place at home.
Francesco Da Rin
Category: CULTURE
Architect Francesco Da Rin participates in numerous projects for the redevelopment and enhancement of buildings, monuments, squares, and even trails in the Ampezzo valley: from the restoration of the Olympic ski jump to the ice stadium, from the Great War Museum at Forte Valparola to the intervention in Largo Poste square, and the extension of the famous Olympia delle Tofane slope. He is an expert in Murano glass with international recognition. He combines his design work with constant academic and institutional commitment. A former ice hockey player for Hockey Cortina - where he also serves as captain - and for the Italian national team, he is a multifaceted figure who blends architecture, landscape, sport, and culture, all in the spirit of Alpine identity.
Franco Sovilla
Category: CULTURE
Franco Sovilla is the historical face of the central bookstore Libreria Sovilla in Cortina d'Ampezzo, which he runs with his wife and daughters. Active in the family business since he was young, he transforms the bookstore into a place of culture and hospitality, a reference point for residents and tourists. With events, exhibitions, and collaborations with local artisans, he combines his great passion for books with his love for the mountains, becoming a central figure in the city's cultural life. The icing on the cake is that Franco Sovilla is President of the Cortina For Us Association, formed by different local businesses, which organises numerous important events in the Ampezzo valley, ranging from fashion to food.
Franz Kraler
Category: BUSINESS/FASHION
South Tyrolean entrepreneur of Habsburg origins, Franz Kraler, together with his wife Daniela Olivieri, founds the famous luxury retail brand that bears his name. After the opening of the first store in Dobbiaco, he brings high fashion to Cortina d'Ampezzo, signing the first luxury department store in the Dolomites and introducing the first Louis Vuitton boutique in the Italian Alps. A benchmark for elegance and hospitality, in 2026 the Kraler family celebrates 40 years of activity.
Giancarlo Candeago
Category: CRAFTMANSHIP
An artistic blacksmith and master craftsman, Giancarlo Candeago begins his activity in the late 60s in Cortina d’Ampezzo, then opening his own workshop where he trains numerous artisans. His production, entirely handcrafted, stands out for the perfect harmony between functionality and aesthetics, with great attention to architectural forms. He soon becomes one of the most sought-after artisans not only in Italy but also abroad, creating furnishings for homes and hotels in Europe, America, and Australia. Each project originates from a careful analysis of the spaces and develops into detailed drawings, giving life to solid, refined, and timeless works. The attention to finishes and the continuous aesthetic research and pursuit of new materials make his work unmistakable.
Gianfranco Rezzadore
Category: SPORT
As President of the Bob Club Cortina, Gianfranco Rezzadore is a key figure in promoting the nascent Cortina Sliding Centre “Eugenio Monti”, future home of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. After a brilliant career as a member of the national bobsleigh team, Rezzadore enters the Bob Club Cortina's executive committee. Despite the closure of the "Eugenio Monti" facility, he works to preserve the tradition of bobsleigh by founding the famous "Taxi Bob", with which he accompanies around 4000 tourists downhill. He is also a supporter and organiser of the new discipline of parabob. Currently, he is President of Cortina Energym together with Orlando Volpe Maruggi, an association dedicated to sport for all ages with a particular focus on young people and people with disabilities.
Giorgio Triches
Category: SPORT
President of the National Association of Italian Athletes and Olympians for the Belluno and Cortina d'Ampezzo section since 2013, Giorgio Triches comes from the world of ice hockey. His sporting career boasts an Italian Championship won with Hockey Cortina in 1974 and a Bronze Medal for Athletic Valour from the Italian Olympic Committee, in recognition of his talent. In addition to his commitment on the ice, Triches demonstrates a deep dedication to local sports and political management: he holds positions as a municipal councillor and manages sports facilities. Today he still holds several prominent positions in provincial sports associations and in 2025 he is awarded the Bronze Star for Sporting Merit by the Italian Olympic Committee.
Giovanni Dibona
Category: SPORT
Born in 1944, Giovanni Dibona, a great skier from Ampezzo Valley, qualifies as a reserve for the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics at just 20 years old. In 1966, he distinguishes himself at the Portillo World Championships with a 7th place in the special slalom and, in the same year, becomes Italian Champion in special slalom and alpine combined. Unfortunately, an injury prevents him from participating in the 1967 Grenoble Olympic Games. Even after retiring from competitions, Giovanni Dibona continues to support sport in the Ampezzo Valley, serving as a coach for the historic “Sci Club Cortina” first, then founding the “Scuola Sci Azzurra Cortina”, and finally becoming president of the “Golf Club Cortina.”
Graziano Prest
Category: FOOD
A Michelin-starred chef and ambassador for Italian cuisine worldwide, Graziano Prest today leads prominent food and wine establishments in Cortina d'Ampezzo. After earning his first Michelin Star in Moena in 1993, he arrives in Cortina where he manages Chalet Tofane with Kristian Casanova for six years, then takes over the management of Ristorante Tivoli with his wife Maridilia, retaining the Michelin Star for a remarkable 23 years. Since 2018, Prest shares the kitchen management of Casa Italia at the Olympics (Pyeongchang, Tokyo, Beijing, and Paris), at the Ski World Cup in Cortina, and participates in international events in Dubai and Russia. Today he also coordinates the brand new The Roof, the bistro on the roof of La Cooperativa di Cortina, as well as a catering service. He promotes Alpine cuisine, contributing to the creation of prestigious local events like The Queen of Taste.
Kristian Ghedina
Category: SPORT
Kristian Ghedina, a renowned Italian downhill specialist, boasts an exceptional career with 33 World Cup podiums, including 13 victories, and 3 World Ski Championship medals. Among his most memorable successes is his historic victory on the Streif in Kitzbühel in 1998, also famous for his split on the final jump. After retiring from competitions in 2006, Ghedina dedicates himself to motorsport and takes on roles as a coach and ambassador, promoting skiing and championing his beloved Cortina d’Ampezzo, where he now runs the “M’Over” ski school and various local initiatives.
Lucia Paoletti
Category: FASHION
Lucia Paoletti, entrepreneur and stylist, transforms her passion for fashion and craftsmanship into a recognisable and authentic brand. Her talent manifests itself immediately, and in the 1980s she opens her first shop in Cortina, Paoletti di Follina 1795: a place that combines fashion, tradition, and hospitality. Her creations express an elegant, comfortable, entirely Made in Italy country chic style, which over the years increasingly becomes synonymous with the Cortina style. In 2005, she also opens in Milan, and today her shops are reference points for those seeking discreet, authentic, and timeless elegance.
Luciana Pradetto
Category: CULTURE/SPORT
She successfully coordinated media, journalists, and photographers for the Tourist Promotion Company. Her deep experience in the Ski World Cup (1990–2014) saw her expertly manage accreditation and accommodation for teams, guests, and stakeholders, holding strategic roles such as Secretary General and Logistics Manager. From 2013 to 2021, she was the point of reference as Head of the Office for the Cortina Hoteliers Association. Her dedication to the area also manifested in 2026, coordinating volunteers for the "Cortina Welcome Team" project during the Milano Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Games. Currently, Luciana Pradetto leads "Ra Filodramatica d’Anpezo," an association that preserves and celebrates local culture through theatre in Ampezzan Ladin, demonstrating a constant commitment not only to operational excellence but also to promoting Cortina's cultural heritage.
Ludovica Rubbini
Category: FOOD
Ludovica Rubbini is the organisational and strategic mind behind three excellences of the territory that showcase regenerative and sustainable cuisine in the heart of the Dolomites: the gourmet restaurant SanBrite, the agritourism El Brite de Larieto, and the Piccolo Brite dairy. With passion and vision, she transforms these projects into international benchmarks for Alpine food and wine, recognised with the Michelin Star and the Michelin Green Star. In 2021, the Corriere della Sera includes her among the twenty most influential women in the sector. Convinced of the value of relationships, sustainability, and authentic stories, Rubbini is today one of the most prominent voices in mountain gastronomic culture.
Manuela Angeli
Category: SPORT
A figure skater at the 1956 Cortina Winter Olympics, Manuela Angeli is a true pioneer of sport in the Ampezzo Valley. Daughter of a hotelier, bob champion and mayor, Angeli is born in Cortina d'Ampezzo shortly before the Second World War and at just 16 years old she competes in the home Olympics in figure skating. After her sports career she moves to various parts of the world before returning to her hometown. Here she manages an antique shop and then directs the historic family hotel, one of the first in the area. She is still a symbolic figure of her city's historical and sporting memory.
Marco Barbesta
Category: CULTURE
Marco Barbesta is an economist and distinguished lecturer who spends much of the year in Cortina d’Ampezzo, a place he is deeply fond of. When he is not in Cortina, he lives in the United States, where for years he led the U.S. branches of Italian companies, promoting Made in Italy. In Cortina, he volunteers at cultural events and now teaches at the University for Adults and Seniors of Belluno. Barbesta, who speaks five languages, promotes sustainable development and conducts research on the positive uses of artificial intelligence in collaboration with professors from American universities.
Marco Ramon
Category: FASHION
Marco Ramon plays a significant role in fashion and luxury events: after moving to Milan, in 2008 he becomes a partner of the “Exhibita” agency, with which he creates events for brands such as Fendi, Dior and Louis Vuitton. He comes to Cortina d'Ampezzo since he was a child and therefore integrated the town in his professional activity, to the point that “Exhibita” has opened an office in the town centre. Today Marco lives between Milan and the Dolomites, where he combines work and his passion for the mountains, particularly for the ski slopes of Cortina.
Massimo Alverà
Category: FOOD
Massimo Alverà, master pastry chef, is the heart of Pasticceria Alverà: the family business founded in 1914 in Cortina d'Ampezzo and originally a simple bakery. From the 1950s, with the advent of tourism and the Winter Olympics, Pasticceria Alverà expanded its offerings, complementing its bread production with sophisticated Central European-inspired pastries. Today, it is renowned for its miniature pastries, chocolates, and large leavened products, establishing itself as a confectionery landmark in the Dolomites. The historic Pasticceria is constantly engaged in a renewal project that embraces the future but remains always faithful to its roots.
Mattia Gaspari
Category: SPORT
A star of Italian skeleton, Mattia Gaspari was born and raised in Cortina d'Ampezzo. He is part of the Fiamme Azzurre Sports Group and the Italian National Team. In 2016, he wins bronze at the Junior World Championships in Winterberg, while in 2020, he makes history with Italy's first World Championship medal in skeleton, won in Altenberg in the team event. Now he competes in the World Cup and, after participating in the Beijing 2022 Olympics, he is in the running to represent Italy at the Olympics Milano Cortina 2026, speeding down the brand new Cortina Sliding Centre.
Orlando Volpe Maruggi
Category: SPORT
Orlando Volpe Maruggi is a sports and rehabilitation professional, recognised as a national benchmark for sports inclusion. He boasts years of experience working alongside the Italian national teams for bobsleigh, skeleton, ice hockey, curling, and rowing, as well as the Paralympic teams. A physiotherapist with a degree in Sports Science, in 2017 he founded the non-profit organisation "The Game Never Ends", with the aim of making sports activities accessible to people with disabilities. He currently also holds the role of technical director for "Cortina Energym", a multi-sport association that promotes sport for all ages.
Renato Pesavento
Category: SPORT
Renato Pesavento was a central figure for Cortina d’Ampezzo from 1956, combining technical activity with public commitment. From mechanic to designer and safety assistant, he was also a provincial councillor and a board member of the Codivilla Putti hospital. He served as SIAE Director and municipal administrator with responsibilities for sport, tourism, and public works. He founded the “Rotary Cadore-Cortina” – a local Rotary International club engaged in social, cultural, and charitable projects in the area. In the field of sport, he was president of the Cortina Curling Club for 40 years, FISG technical commissioner, and a coach at the World Championships. Also active in bobsleigh as a FISI judge, he consistently participated in alpine skiing through the organisation of the World Cup and in swimming with the foundation of the Rari Nantes Cortina. In 1984, he was an IOC observer at the Los Angeles Games, and he was also a loyal promoter of Cortina d’Ampezzo as a host city for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Roberto Zandonella
Category: SPORT
Roberto Zandonella is one of the historic names in Italian bobsleigh. After two Italian titles (Cortina 1965 and Cervinia 1967), he wins Olympic gold in the four-man bobsleigh with Eugenio Monti, Mario Armano and Luciano De Paolis in Grenoble 1968. In 1969, he conquers silver at the Lake Placid World Championships and, in 1970, he again steps onto the highest step of the podium at the World Championships in St. Moritz. He also participates in the Sapporo pre-Olympics, obtaining a second place. In 2006, he is a torchbearer at the Turin Winter Olympics. Among the many career awards, surely the Golden Collar for sporting merit - the highest honour of CONI - and the Palm of Technical Merit for his contribution to sport and the growth of young athletes are to be mentioned.
Servane Giol
Category: CULTURE
Servane Giol was born in France but has been living in Venice for years. She is an author and a profound connoisseur of Venetian culture and its artisanal excellences. She publishes "Un invito a Venezia" (2022) with Flammarion and Marsilio Arte, and "La regina delle Dolomiti" (2024), dedicated to Cortina d'Ampezzo. The result of years of research through archives and private testimonies, her book about Cortina tells the story and identity of iconic places through unpublished interiors, interviews, and vintage images. Always connected to Cortina, she offers an intimate and cultural perspective, interweaving the memory of the last hundred years with its master artisans, private homes, and the artists, writers and famous visitors welcomed to Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Umberto Guerini
Category: CULTURE
Umberto Guerini has been spending long periods in Cortina for 35 years and has always had a deep connection with the mountains. A professor and lawyer, essayist and former councillor, he boasts a career that combines research, teaching, institutional commitment and legal practice. In one of the cases he dealt with, he "discovered" that Francis Bacon stayed in Cortina several times in the second half of the 1980s and gifted some of his drawings to a couple of restaurateurs who had experienced his "vivacity" and that of his friends. Francis Bacon was so struck by the beauty of the Ampezzo Valley that it made him say: "If Paradise exists, it's in Cortina."
Vincenzo Gaspari
Category: SPORT
A master skier born in 1945, Vincenzo Gaspari has always lived in Cortina d'Ampezzo. A former bank employee, he is passionate about sports: skiing, tennis, basketball and trail running. After retirement, he begins competing in the Ski Master World Cup and Italian Cup, achieving numerous victories and medals, including silver in the slalom in Cortina in 2021. He is also a member of the All Blacks, a club of skiers of the steepest black slope in Cortina. A federal tennis instructor for over twenty years, he is an Italian national athlete in alpine skiing and a volunteer for the upcoming Olympics. He proudly promotes his territory through sport.