Pretty houses and imaginative wrought iron objects and artisan shops all around a peaceful village surrounded by pristine nature. In a nutshell that is Sottoguda, a winter wonderland in the Dolomites.

We went on our first ever ski holiday in Italy back in January. We were staying in a hotel in the Dolomites (an UNESCO World Heritage site). Actually, only my husband skied while I and our kids frolicked in the snow and relaxed in the swimming pool. It was a rather lovely slow-paced holiday.

But you see, we were driving through Sottoguda on the way to our tiny ski hamlet when I noticed a rather interesting sign under a place name board. It said uno dei Borghi piu’ belli d’Italia which means “one of the most beautiful villages in Italy”. Of course, you cannot just ignore such an inviting sign so I told my husband that we should walk around Sottoguda on our return drive since we’ll be passing through the village again. And that’s exactly what we did.

About Sottoguda

Sottoguda is a tiny alpine village situated at the foot of Marmolada which is the highest peak in the Dolomites. It belongs to municipality of Rocca Pietore (Veneto region). Sottoguda is famous for its tradition of artistic wrought iron and wooden hay barns built entirely by hand. Here is also the entrance to the Serrai di Sottoguda Natural Park. In winter you can do ice-climbing on frozen waterfalls in Serrai gorge. You can also walk along Via della Meditazione in one of the highest beech forests. In summer you can attend a local festival dedicated to the typical dishes and local handicrafts. Sottoguda has been proclaimed as “one of the most beautiful villages” in Italy in 2016 by the organization named I Borghi più belli d’Italia.

Our walk around Sottoguda

So, as I’ve already mentioned above we decided to explore Sottoguda during our return drive instead of just passing through. There wasn’t a lot of snow in Sottoguda but it was freezing to walk around. We were lucky that our ski hamlet was higher up so we had plenty of snow during our ski holiday. We parked the car in the free car park and walked around peaceful and sleepy Sottoguda. Some artisan shops and cafes were open but we didn’t come across many people on our mid morning walk. We just saw a few people walking their dogs.

I loved the Christmas wreaths and other Christmas decorations around this tiny village. We saw a couple of traditional old hay barns that also had some interesting Christmas decorations. We entered a few shops with exquisite wrought iron and wooden objects. Mind you, it is all hand made and traditional so it is quite pricey. There were different wrought iron sculptures scattered around the village too. The village’s center is small so our walk was quite short. Besides, the kids were nagging us that they were cold so we couldn’t have stayed longer even if we had wanted to. But I think that we saw everything, from the local church to the old hay barns and wrought iron shops. Though, it must be lovely to hike around in the summer.

Have you ever heard of Sottoguda or the Association of the most beautiful villages in Italy?

I checked their website while writing this post and I’m pleased to say that I’ve actually been to several other most beautiful villages in Italy from their list without knowing about it (Cividale del Friuli , Vernazza and San Marino as an international member).

We visited Sottoguda in January 2026.