Two of Italy's most glamorous ski resorts are about to smell a lot like fried chicken. From 5 December 2026, KFC products will appear on menus at mountain venues in Cortina d'Ampezzo and Madonna di Campiglio, and the reaction in the Dolomites has been swift and loud.
The operator Super G, which runs mountain restaurants at both resorts, moved quickly to clarify the plans after an early rendering showing KFC branding on a historic refuge sparked outrage. At Cortina, six KFC items will simply join the menu at the existing ground-floor café at the Faloria refuge, which sits at 2,123 metres with a terrace looking out over the peaks. Super G insists both venues will keep serving Italian food, and Faloria Spa — the company managing the mountain's ski infrastructure — said its board never approved the branded image and the building will look exactly as it does now.
That didn't calm everyone. Alberico Zardini, a major shareholder in Faloria Spa, called the very idea "disgraceful" in comments to Il Messaggero and threatened legal action. Environmental group Mountain Wilderness and a Trentino provincial councillor both weighed in, arguing that a fast-food chain on the slopes chips away at the mountains' identity. Their point has some weight: refuge lunches are a proper part of an Italian ski day — think polenta with braised meat, canederli bread dumplings with butter, or luganega sausage.
At Madonna di Campiglio, the KFC selection will be served at the Piana di Nambino venue, around 1,700 metres up, alongside the usual sit-down Italian meals and afternoon après-ski drinks. KFC Italia's marketing director Marzia Farè framed the move as a way to reach young families and mountain visitors, part of a broader push to hit 185 KFC restaurants in Italy by the end of 2026. No prices have been announced.
The controversy lands at a busy moment. Cortina is co-hosting the February 2026 Winter Olympics, and both resorts were already wrestling with crowds — Madonna di Campiglio recorded 23,000 admissions in a single day and capped online sales of one-day ski passes on 17 peak dates this season. Meanwhile, food-driven tourism is clearly a force here: the Friedrich August refuge in Val di Fassa became a viral destination in August for its krapfen doughnuts, with queues down the trail and some visitors camping overnight to snag one from the morning batch.
For skiers, the practical takeaway is simple: if you want the classic polenta-and-luganega refuge lunch, it's not going anywhere — you'll just have the option of a bucket of chicken next to it. Whether that's progress or a stain on the Alps depends on who you ask, and the argument isn't over yet.
Story via Travel Tomorrow.
