Prato Valentino
A south-facing Valtellina area above Teglio whose 1960 gondola from the valley died in 1984; the rest has reached the end of its technical life, with a regionally funded replacement chairlift announced in April 2026.
- Region
- Lombardy
- Country
- Italy
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1960
- Year closed
- 1984 (the Teglio gondola)
- Reason for closure
- Lack of snow on a south-facing ridge, and poor accessibility. The gondola up from Teglio was dismissed in 1984. The remaining lifts have since reached the end of their permitted technical life, with renewal costed at over 4 million euros that the operator could not raise.
History
Prato Valentino sits above Teglio in the Valtellina, running from about 1,740 m to 2,600 m along a south-facing ridge - an exposure that explains most of its history. A telecabina was built up from Teglio in 1960 and dismissed in 1984, and when Mountain Wilderness surveyed the site in 2006-07 it recorded that gondola still in place alongside a chairlift and three skilifts, two low and one high, under the ownership of Teglio 2000, formerly Rezia S.p.a. The survey gave lack of snow and poor accessibility as the causes. The story did not end there, which is worth recording carefully: the area kept going in reduced form, and what has stopped it more recently is regulatory rather than meteorological. The chairlift reached the end of its permitted technical life, as did the skilift that stopped a winter earlier, and renewal was costed at more than 4 million euros the operator could not find. The lifts have since stayed shut. In April 2026 Regione Lombardia committed funding to a 'Development and relaunch of the Prato Valentino area', centred on a new fixed-grip chairlift from Prato Valentino to Dosso Lau 2000, at a total cost just under 5 million euros with 4 million coming from the region and the balance from the comune of Teglio. Snowmaking and a beginners' tapis roulant are already on site, so skiing could resume once the chairlift is built. This is therefore a station in limbo with a funded route back, not a dead one - and the 1960 gondola is the part that is genuinely finished.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Gondola | The telecabina up from Teglio, built 1960 and dismissed in 1984. Still standing when surveyed in 2006-07 | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift | The area's chairlift, recorded by the 2006-07 survey and since run to the end of its technical life. To be replaced by a new fixed-grip chairlift, Prato Valentino - Dosso Lau 2000 | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | One of three skilifts, two low on the hill and one high. This one also reached the end of its technical life, stopping a winter before the chairlift | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | The second of the three skilifts | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | The third of the three skilifts | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | A tapis roulant for beginners, still in place along with a snowmaking system |
Sources and further reading
- https://www.mountainwilderness.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Impianti-abbandonati-Lombardia-2007.pdf
- https://www.dovesciare.it/news/2026-04-02/teglio-prato-valentino-possibile-una-nuova-seggiovia-riaprire-allo-sci
- https://www.neveitalia.it/lombardia/news/teglio-gli-impianti-di-prato-valentino-resteranno-chiusi-durante-la-stagione-invernale
- https://www.dovesciare.it/cartina/teglio_prato_valentino
More in Italy
Location
46.1894, 10.0541