Livigno

Livigno is one of Italian snowboarders’ favorite spots, and the reasons are concrete. It’s a duty-free zone in the Valtellina, at 1,816 meters, with reliable snow usually from late November into May, the biggest freestyle scene in Italy, and prices below the Alpine average.

First, one thing that confuses a lot of people: Livigno isn’t a single ski area but two separate ones, facing each other across the valley, plus a set of snowparks that don’t necessarily sit inside either. One Skipass Livigno covers them all.

The Two Ski Areas

Mottolino is on the eastern side, above the village center, and you get up there on the gondola from Livigno centro. It has always been the freestyle side: this is where the snowpark that put Livigno on the map across Europe was born, and where the Olympic venue was built.

Carosello 3000 is on the opposite side and climbs to 2,794 meters, close to the 3,000 that give it its name. This is the side for long runs: on the Blesaccia and Zuelli you drop a thousand vertical meters without a break, the Centrale is nearly four kilometers long, and the Gessi crosses the Val Federia. According to the operator, its runs are 26% blue, 57% red, and 17% black.

The two areas aren’t connected on the snow: to get from one to the other, take the free ski bus that runs along the valley floor. On top of these there’s Sitas, the valley’s third historic area.

All together the resort has 115 kilometers of slopes across 74 runs, served by around thirty lifts: gondolas, chairlifts, and drag lifts.

The Four Snowparks

This is where Livigno really stands out. Skipass Livigno lists four snowparks, each with its own character.

Oakley Flow Park (Mottolino, Lift 2 Planon)

Born from a partnership between Oakley and Mottolino Snowpark, this is the park for riders who already have a solid level. It isn’t a classic park with separate lines: it mixes the flow of a boardercross course with freestyle features, so you ride without stopping and link everything into one line. There are kickers (jumps), plenty of rails and boxes, four quarter hips, and two wall rides. At the bottom of the park is the Oakley Outpost, a dome that houses the brand’s space.

Snowpark The Beach (Carosello 3000, Lifts 12 and 13)

The Carosello park, at the top of the San Rocco gondola and served by the Baby chairlift (no. 13), goes all in on a tropical theme: palm trees, coconuts, and a shark mascot at almost three thousand meters. It’s openly an easy park, built to help you progress step by step, with three lines: a Kids line with a tunnel and simple features, an Easy line with mellow kickers, and a Medium line with bigger jumps. Below the park is the Surfer’s House, where everyone in the area hangs out.

Snowpark Amerikan (Lift 10)

This is the park for total beginners: kids and adults trying freestyle for the first time. It has more than 15 features, small jumps, rails, and boxes, so you can try your first tricks without facing the size of the other parks.

Snowpark Twenty (Lift 20, Village Center)

The most unusual of the four, because it isn’t up the mountain but right in the middle of Livigno, on via Fontana, served by a drag lift just 200 meters long. It has around 20 features, from small and large jumps to boxes and rails of every kind, and it was started by a group of local riders.

Don’t let the size fool you: it has hosted Italy’s first freestyle skiing Big Air events, the Italian slopestyle championships for both skiing and snowboarding, the Yuri Silvestri Invitational, and the Nitro Rail Jam with the World Rookie Tour. In summer there’s also a freestyle area with neveplast (synthetic snow) features, a foam pit, and slacklines.

The Livigno Snow Park and the Olympic Legacy

A lot of sources still get this part wrong.

The historic Mottolino Snowpark (800 meters long, more than 60 features) has closed, as the operator itself announced. The Livigno Snow Park was built on its slope: the Olympic venue that hosted the snowboard and freestyle events of Milano-Cortina 2026. The design is unusual: five competition areas share a single finish area, with the halfpipe, slopestyle, snowboard cross, and parallel giant slalom crossing the river Spöl on a removable deck.

What’s left of the Games changes from season to season. To find out which Olympic features (halfpipe, slopestyle) are open to the public, check mottolino.com before you go.

Some sources, including the local tourism site, may still list the old Mottolino Snowpark with its old dimensions: if your trip depends on one particular park, check that it’s open before you go.

Freeride

Beyond the parks, you can reach off-piste terrain from the lifts on both sides of the valley. Carosello, with its aspect and thousand meters of vertical, is the side freeriders talk about most. As always, carry full avalanche safety gear (beacon, shovel, and probe) and, if you don’t know the area, go with a mountain guide.

Getting There and Costs

Livigno sits outside the customs area: gas, technical clothing, and gear cost a lot less than in the rest of Italy, and that’s one reason so many riders come back every year.

By car from Milan, take the SS36 to Colico, the SS38 through the Valtellina to Bormio, and finally the SS301, which climbs over the Foscagno Pass (2,291 m) and down to Livigno; in winter you need snow chains on board or winter tires. Buses run from Milan and Bergamo. The nearest train station is Tirano, about two hours away by bus. The village is long and narrow, stretched out along the valley floor: to get between your lodging, the lifts, and the parks, everyone uses the free ski bus.