Mandarin Oriental Cristallo: Cortina's grande dame gets a second act
The hotel where Sinatra, Nabokov and Peter Sellers spent their winters reopens in early 2027 as Mandarin Oriental's first Alpine resort.
Every Alpine resort has one hotel that holds its history, and in Cortina d'Ampezzo it has always been the Cristallo. The Menardi family built it in 1901, when Cortina was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and visitors arrived by carriage; through the 1930s, it became the winter address for a certain kind of cultivated European who skied in tweed and dined in black tie. After the 1956 Winter Olympics put Cortina on every newsreel, the Cristallo entered its golden years. Frank Sinatra stayed, as did Peter Sellers, Saul Bellow and Vladimir Nabokov, who presumably spent his days chasing butterflies on the slopes above the town.
The hotel has now been closed for a long restoration and will reopen in early 2027 under Mandarin Oriental, the group's first property in the mountains. Having watched what Mandarin Oriental did with the Lago di Como hotel at Blevio, where they managed to make a modern resort feel calm and considered without stripping the place of its lakeside character, I am cautiously optimistic.
What to expect
There will be 83 rooms, of which 30 are suites, many with balconies looking out across the Ampezzo valley to the Dolomites. The great draw will be the spa, which Mandarin Oriental describes in its usual expansive terms, and which includes a swimming pool that runs from inside the building out into the open air, so you can swim out into falling snow. There will be several restaurants and bars, though the group has yet to name the chefs.
The man in charge is Nicola Abate, who grew up on Lake Garda and has spent more than 25 years in Italian luxury hotels, from the Hotel de Russie in Rome to Villa Feltrinelli, and most recently ran the Mandarin Oriental in Milan. A general manager who knows how Italian guests like to be looked after matters a great deal in Cortina, where the winter population is still overwhelmingly Milanese and Roman, and where a hotel that only speaks to international visitors would struggle to fill its dining room in January.
The question of character
My only worry is the one that hangs over every grand hotel restoration: that the patina goes in the skip along with the plumbing. The old Cristallo had a faded, slightly theatrical glamour, all heavy drapes, carved wood and photographs of film stars on the walls of the bar, and part of its charm was that it never quite caught up with the present. The new owners have every incentive to keep some of that history visible, since it is the most valuable thing they have bought, and I hope the bar in particular survives in a form Sellers would recognise.
Is Mandarin Oriental Cristallo for you?
For families and couples who want a full resort in Cortina, with a serious spa, a choice of restaurants and the kind of service that remembers how you take your coffee, this will be the obvious choice from next winter. It sits a little above the centre of town, which makes for wider views and quieter nights, with the Corso a short shuttle away. Rates have not yet been published, but expect them to sit at the very top of the Alpine market. Bookings should open in the coming months, and the best suites for February half-term will go quickly.
The details
Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina d'Ampezzo. Opening in early 2027. 83 rooms, including 30 suites; spa with indoor-outdoor pool; restaurants and bars. Venice Marco Polo is about a two-hour drive away. Rates on request; mandarinoriental.com