Cervinia lies at above sea level, at the foot of the Matterhorn, in a valley surrounded by high, glaciated mountains and the sheer rock face of the Jumeaux. It shares a ski area with Zermatt in Switzerland, connected through the Plateau Rosa glacier. Some of the runs are very long, the longest is Ventina, which stretches from the Testa Grigia down to Cervinia in Italy. The ski season in Cervinia lasts not only 6 months in winter but also in summer on the glacier Plateau Rosa.
Weather/Climate
Cervinia being one of Europe's highest ski resorts means low temperatures and good consistent snow fall, Skiing is nearly year round on the glacier. Temperatures get very cold through the winter months with daily averages being around for the winter months and only about in the summer months. This maintains the snow in great shape throughout the winter season. December usually averages round in resort and on the mountain, January approx, February approx, March, April.
History
The town of Breuil-Cervinia has a pretty short history, which fills only the last two centuries. Till the beginning of the 19th century, the Breuil basin was just a giant pasture, with a group of shepherds living in a few alpine cottages only in summer. The real growth of the town begun since the 1850s, with the birth of the passion for alpinism all over the Alps; in fact many mountain climbers saw the Matterhorn as one of the greatest challenges, so the construction of some bases became necessary. Some examples are the first Refuge du Théodule at 3317 m, the Jumeaux Hotel and Hotel du Cervin. The first step towards the construction of the ski resort was done in 1934, when some piedmontese entrepreneurs founded the Matterhorn Society ), wanting to turn the town in a tourist destination, with modern infrastructures. In 1936 a group of men from Valtournanche understood the need of a skilift linking Breuil to Plan Maison at 2555 m and so it was the beginning of winter tourism. During 1939 Breuil was renamed Cervinia because of the fascist project of Italianisation of Aosta Valley's town names. 1939 also had been the year of a big venture: the highest skilift in Italy was opened, linking Plan Maison with the Testa Grigia at 3480 m, near the Swiss border. After the Second World War the growth continued more than ever, with the realization of many lifts, gondolas and the longest cable car of Europe, built in 1952 between Plan Maison and Mount Furggen. The unification in 1982 with the Valtournanche ski resort added prestige to Cervinia. Thanks to its rapid growth, Cervinia and its ski resort, as many other town on the Alps like Courmayeur, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Limone Piemonte, Pila, Sestriere, Zermatt etc., became a field of architectural and engineering experimentation, trying to develop a new alpine architecture and new technologies for buildings and lifts. Today Breuil-Cervinia is fully dependent on tourism, both during winter and summer, thanks to the possibility of summer ski on the Plateau Rosa Glacier, the beauty of its alpine landscape and the presence of the Matterhorn. The town hosted the FIBT World Championships in 1971, 1975, and 1985.
