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Italian marketplace and restaurant Eataly has rolled out a limited-time “Cortina” program across its North American locations, bringing the flavors and spirit of Cortina d’Ampezzo—the legendary Dolomites resort town often called the “Queen of the Alps”—to its restaurants, markets and cooking schools through March 29.
Timed to capture the buzz around the Winter Olympics and Italy’s mountain culture, the activation leans into cozy, northern-Italian comfort food. At La Pizza & La Pasta and Eataly Ristorante, special menus showcase Alpine classics and cold-weather crowd-pleasers, including Fontina DOP fondue spiked with black truffle butter, crispy polenta with lardo and rosemary, spaetzle with speck and Grana Padano and house-made gnocchi paired with squash and walnut. Even the pizzas get a snowy-season spin, including a mushroom-forward pizza misto bosco finished with caramelized onion cream and Italian speck.
True to Eataly’s “eat, shop, and learn” ethos, the marketplace areas of the store are being transformed into mini Alpine hubs stocked with specialty products from Veneto, Lombardia and surrounding regions, ranging from cheeses and cured meats to coffee and sweet treats. Shoppers can browse the “Cortina Capsule,” a retail feature highlighting made-in-Italy ingredients tied to the country's northern culinary traditions.
If you’d rather get hands-on, Eataly’s La Scuola cooking schools are hosting a rotating calendar of classes and workshops inspired by the region. There will be pasta-making sessions, wine and cheese tastings and occasional guest chef dinners that lean into hearty mountain flavors. Starting next week, on February 16, a quick-service Panini Fest adds another layer to the experience, debuting new sandwiches like the “Cortina” panino, a combination of speck and Taleggio on a fresh baguette.
For anyone dreaming of après-ski vibes without the lift ticket, this Alpine-inspired takeover offers a way to eat your way through Cortina without stepping onto a plane.