Hotel Posta - Livigno, Italy

As skiing was out this week on the trip to Livigno due to some minor malfunction in one knee, I spent the days crawling around like a tourist and trying to find a good lunch and some souvenirs. (It is a good sign when it is near impossible to find a T-shirt shop!) Hotel Posta sounded familiar and it came with a strong recommendation from a cousin whose long time friend runs the place.

Livigno is a few clicks from St. Moritz on the Swiss/Italian border and before the tunnel was dug in 1964 was inaccessible in Winter. If you stand on top of the ski area you can see the mountains around St. Moritz, but it will take you an hour to drive there. Livigno is a duty free zone owing to its smugglers past and is quite lively year-round. There are three ski areas to select from and it is above the tree-line, groomed skiing. Dining options are numerous on the mountain from 3 star to BYOB, the lines manageable and the lift tickets reasonable.

Lunch was quiet in town as all able-bodied tourists were on the mountain , so we had the whole place to ourselves. Service was brisk and atttentive. The wine list was mostly local. And the pasta was great as was the sliced, cured meats from local sources. All in all, it was a wonderful meal. And I even managed to sneak one of their own wine labels home for dinner tonight to ease the unpacking and long train ride.