Al Camin

Al Camin is the chef-driven mid-village dining room that locals push first-time Cortina visitors to. The room sits at the edge of the Alverá hamlet — a five-minute walk from the centre — and is built into a 19th-century stone farmhouse with a single open fireplace (the 'camin' of the name) at the back wall. Fabio Pompanin took the kitchen in 2013 after a decade at Hotel de la Poste in the village centre and has run the room as a one-man chef-and-pass operation since.

The menu is short and seasonal — a dozen à la carte plates rewritten monthly — and unapologetically Veneto-Alpine in sourcing. A hand-rolled tortelli with smoked Bassano white asparagus and 36-month Parmigiano; a slow-cooked Ampezzano lamb shank with rosemary and Cadore polenta; a roasted Adriatic turbot with green olive and lemon; a Bassano-and-Treviso radicchio salad with Veneto pumpkin oil. There is no tasting menu — Pompanin is deliberate about that — but the chef will run an off-menu chef-pick four-course for guests who book the chef's-counter.

The wine list is one of the most interesting in the village — 350 references built around Italian Alpine smallholders, with deep coverage of Trentino sparkling, Alto Adige Pinot Bianco, Friuli orange wine, and a serious Cadore section that no other Cortina cellar carries. Glass pours start at €7 and the corkage philosophy is forgiving. The Champagne section is small but well-chosen.

Service is family-run — Fabio in the kitchen, his wife Daniela on the floor, the captain rotates from the village's seasonal staff pool. The room runs at a moderate volume on a Saturday night; the open fireplace is the room's anchor and the seat closest to it (a four-top in the corner) books out first every night. Al Camin is also the most reliable client-entertaining address in the under-€150-per-person tier — the room is good enough to take a senior visitor and the kitchen never overreaches.

Al Camin is the easy-first-date room in Cortina — quieter than the rifugio lunch experience, less formal than SanBrite or Tivoli, and chef-driven enough to be a meaningful conversation starter. The chef's-counter is a strong format for a date as it lets you watch the kitchen work. Book the corner four-top by the open fireplace; ask Daniela for the 'cantina del giorno' off-menu pairing — three glasses against the chef-pick four-course.