Piancavallo is one of five Italian ski resorts (Piancavallo, Forni di Sopra, Zoncolan, Tarvisio, Sella Nevea) located in the province of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia. Ski resorts have developed during the 60's and 70's of the past century on the wings of success of domestic skiers G. Thöni and P. Gros in the World Cup. But with their descent from the world scene this five ski resorts started deteriorating, until they've been purchased by the state that returned them the old glow. Due to their location near borders of Slovenia and Austria they are interesting destination for a great number of skiers.

Piancavallo is the biggest and most popular ski resort in the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia province. Situated at an altitude from 1300 to 1850 m it offers 24 km of slopes, mostly categorized as red. This categorization should be understood very tentative since the slopes are actually quite mild so that even medium skilled skiers won't feel intimidated by them. Besides, there are two black runs, frequently visited by the Italian national ski team. Piancavallo was until the 90's a regular stop for the ladies World Cup races. All the slopes are facing south, so you can enjoy sun during the whole day. Despite sun exposure slopes are very well prepared and maintained to last throughout the day. Snow making system covers all the 24 km of slopes. Also, all the slopes are connected so you can keep your skis on your feet for the whole day.

Piancavallo is located at the southern edge of the Carnian Alps above the towns of Pordenone and Aviano, rather close to the sea. Ski lifts are mostly modern 3- and 4-seater chairlifts that effectively cope with the weekend crowd characteristic for this ski resort. A lot of the infrastructure has been recently updated when part of the Winter University Games 2003 was held here.

As noted above, ski resort is located above the Aviano, a small town with a US Air Force base. Consequently, the hosts have adapted the resort to the Americans so you can listen to hip-hop hits in a number of American bars instead of enjoying Italian canzone in cafés. Accommodation can be found in a dozen of hotels and a few more apartment houses. Prices are not excessive, for the EUR 40 a half board arrangement can be found and if you want to go even cheaper, you can place yourself at the foot of the mountain, in Aviano. Then you have to take into the account a narrow, 15-km long road, filled with serpentines. As for the nightlife, Piancavallo is not overly active, there are several bars, skating rink and that's it.

Daily skipass is EUR 29, while the 6-day skipass costs EUR 132. What is interesting is that Piancavallo offers "skiing on the hour" (sci@ore!) - it is possible to buy skipass just for  2, 3, 4 or 5 hours of skiing. Also, you can buy a number of ski hours for use throughout the season and there is a variety of family skipasses.

Piancavallo can be easily reached from A28 Portogruaro-Pordenone highway that is linked to A4 Trieste-Venice highway. Nearest airports are in Treviso (88 km), Venice (100 km) and Trieste (120 km).

Piancavallo is an ideal weekend destination. Go on a Saturday morning, enjoy skiing the rest of the day and the whole Sunday and on the return you can stop in one of the shopping centers or enjoy a good meal in some of the local trattorias. In short - fun for all!