skip to Main Content
tel: +44 (0)7772 853996 enquiries@thewhitechaletcollection.com

Dazzling designer ski lodge in the Italian Milky Way
Low & mid season: €9,800 whole chalet self-catered/€16,600 catered; Peak: €19,500 s/c and €26,400 catered

Pragelato, nr Sestriere, Italy
Sleeps: 12 + 6 

Baita 1697 living area with leather armchair and fireplace
Baita 1697 kids TV den with rocking horse
Baita 1697 bedroom with animal skull on wall
Baita 1697 designer shower room
Baita 1697 white kitchen area
Baita 1697 exterior shot in the snow
Baita 1697 bathroom with ancient wooden screen
Baita 1697 bedroom with bull fighter picture
Baita 1697 bedroom in the eaves
Baita 1697 bedroom with copper bath
Baita 1697 dining table with sheepskin rugs on chairs
Baita 1697 living area with designer chairs and artwork
Baita 1697 summer chalet exterior
Baita 1697 summer chalet garden
Baita 1697 summer chalet lunch table
Baita 1697 living area with leather armchair and fireplaceBaita 1697 kids TV den with rocking horseBaita 1697 bedroom with animal skull on wallBaita 1697 designer shower roomBaita 1697 white kitchen areaBaita 1697 exterior shot in the snowBaita 1697 bathroom with ancient wooden screenBaita 1697 bedroom with bull fighter pictureBaita 1697 bedroom in the eavesBaita 1697 bedroom with copper bathBaita 1697 dining table with sheepskin rugs on chairsBaita 1697 living area with designer chairs and artworkBaita 1697 summer chalet exteriorBaita 1697 summer chalet gardenBaita 1697 summer chalet lunch table

Chalets in Italy are like fairy dust, and Baita 1697 stands alone as an exquisitely designed luxury ski chalet in Italy’s Piedmontese Alps. It also comes with unbeatable celebrity credentials. Jamie Oliver has stayed and said it was his best chalet experience ever, and a certain top model has also enjoyed its deep comfort and stylish surrounds.

This luxury Italian ski chalet combines serious style with rustic chic. It is owned and designed by an internationally acclaimed interior designer and has been featured in Architectural Digest, no less. The lodge has a stunning open plan living and dining area under cosy exposed 17th century stone vaults, divided by a glass staircase with a giant waterfall of lights descending from the second floor.

Everywhere there is deep style — sheepskin-adorned Perspex chairs sit around a handmade fold-out wooden table in the dining area, while the kitchen table is a huge root from the local national park with a glass sheet on top. This sits under a 400-year-old wooden and stone ceiling, and there is a super-modern high gloss, white lacquer cabinet and rough plastered walls, typically mixing the old with new and traditional with modern.

There are six beautifully styled double bedroom suites in this Italian ski chalet, all with unique art and carpentry sourced locally as well as from China, Burma, Bhutan and Mongolia. Bathrooms are all lavish and spacious, with one room having its own giant copper stand-alone bath.

The children’s dorm has six roll-out mattresses, each with their own coloured bedside light.

There is a full set of full-size Ortigia bathroom products in each of the bathrooms, and robes and slippers are supplied in each room.

Baita 1697 is a fully catered ski chalet. Bianca and Pietro are a delightful local couple who look after the house between them, and Bianca is the cook — and wow, how she cooks. Forget fiddly, Michelin-style dishes: she does utterly delicious, honest Italian food. When I stayed, on the first night I dined on a meltingly good venison stew with polenta followed by a huge tray of possibly the best tiramisu I have ever tasted.

The following night began with fantastic little pizza bites beside the fire, washed down by cocktails specially prepared by Pietro, then we moved to the table and on to burrata with sweet tomatoes and fresh basil, then a vast cauldron of home-made minestrone followed by a pile of nutty ragu on a mound of fresh pasta, culminating in a slow-cooked leg of beef which just fell away from the bone, served with roasted pumpkin. An enormous cheeseboard was then brought out, and the evening was completed beside the fire again with chocolate truffles and ginger bread biscuits. All just divine.

Pietro and Bianca are also complete wine lovers and are educated to sommelier standard, so there is an extensive wine list including excellent house wines and anything can be arranged in advance.

There is an outdoor wooden hot tub on the roof terrace that seats eight people and has a stunning view over Monte Banchetta. This luxury chalet also has trained osteopaths, massage therapists and physiotherapists on hand.

There is a dorm-style room which is perfect for children to share, and one of the double bedrooms is often used as a kids’ room too. There is a large wall-to-wall desk and bookcase in this room, as well as an open fire and a dvd/bluray player. The chalet also has an abundance of toys and board games, mostly for younger children.

The divine interiors of this luxury, designer ski chalet — oh, and the fact that it is in Italy!

The lighting in the bedrooms is rather sophisticated and a little dim so make sure you have it explained by Bianca or Pietro, otherwise you will be stumbling around in the dark! You just have to hold the switches down to make them brighter.

LOCATION

This luxury ski chalet is walkable to the main cable car which connects the hamlet of Pragelato to the Milky Way ski area at Sestriere. There are also excellent off-piste slopes in the hamlet and the Olympic cross-country piste. Baita 1697 is at the foot of the main mountain of the Milky Way and has a breath-taking view from the rooftop and various other viewpoints of the mountain. The hamlet can be reached by car, then there is a 20 metre walk down a path to get to the lodge.

GETTING THERE

Transfers can be arranged at an extra cost by the lodge. The nearest airport is Turin or Cuneo. Milan is the next closest.

AT A GLANCE
  • Bedrooms: 6 + dorm
  • Bathrooms: 5
  • Available Summer and Winter
  • Location: 100m from nearest lift, 8 minutes by car to Sestriere, walkable from Pragelato to 13 neighbouring hamlets
  • Wooden hot-tub on roof terrace
  • Flat screen TV
  • Wifi
  • Bootwarmers
  • 4 log fires (one on roof terrace and 2 gas fires in bedrooms)
  • Parking
  • Sunday changeover apart from New Year when flexible
EXTRAS

Each room has an iPod docking station. There are also audio Bluetooth connections in every room in the house. There is Sky and various other international channels and all British channels, as well as an extensive film library. There is wifi. There are three open fires and two suites have gas fires. There is parking if it is needed, although the lodge has a 9 seater van which Pietro drives clients in.

MY TOP TIP

You must ski the Olympic downhill for kudos!

Also, stop for apperitivi at Tana Delle Volpe and watch the sunset, then either ski back down with torches, or skidoo back down.

Dine in the neighbouring hamlet of Plan – either Antica Osteria or La Greppia – both are fabulous and within walking distance.

Finally, grab breakfast at Raggio di Sole at the top of the cable car one morning and just take in the calm. Fabulous.

 

GUESTBOOK

No quotes yet because the lodge is new.

ENQUIRIES

If you would like to make an enquiry or a booking, please telephone –  +44 (0)7772 853996 or click here to send me a message.

Remember, I have visited all the chalets we feature so can give you totally unbiased, independent advice on all of them. The prices I quote are also the list prices quoted by the chalets themselves, so there is no advantage in going to the chalets direct.

Back To Top