13. LA DOLCE VITA IN CORTINA

Brigitte throwing snowballs at the camera. Joyfully posing on the hood of a Lancia Flaminia, designed by Pininfarina. Sliding a curling stone in front of the Hotel Miramonti. Skating gracefully at the Ice Stadium. These are the images shot by photojournalist Giancolombo, capturing the Dolce Vita of Cortina in the 1950s and 1960s. In February 1958, Brigitte Bardot had just finished filming En cas de malheur. She was overtired, as she recounts in her autobiography. Then one morning, among the bills, love letters, and brochures for vacation homes on the Côte d’Azur, an invitation from the Comune of Cortina d’Ampezzo materialised. Bardot had seen the stunning footage of the 1956 Olympics, which included Giuliana Minuzzo, the first woman in history to take the Olympic oath. Her grandmother persuaded her to go, and she accepted. In Cortina, Bardot spent carefree days with her sister and her body double. They stayed in the suite at the Hotel Miramonti, where they had fun: “We hung all our stockings, scarves, and colorful shawls from the chandelier (…), throwing them in the air until a piece of fabric caught on a crystal bead, all to the sound of uuh! Uuh! Yay! I did it! Hip, hip, hooray!” The relationship between BB and Giancolombo during those days in Cortina, marked by a respectful intimacy, is recounted by Mauro Zanon in his book Brigitte Bardot (Gog Edizioni). They went dancing at the Hotel Cristallo, shopping at the Bredo boutique, and they escaped from the paparazzi in the snows of the Falzarego Pass. Finally, here, at the Ice Stadium, Giancolombo captured some memorable shots with his Leica. The images were part of a 2003 exhibition curated by Alessandro Perna, featuring other stars who made Cortina legendary: Alberto Sordi combing his hair at the Rifugio Faloria; Raf Vallone with Sophia Loren at a gala; Ingrid Bergman outside the shops on Corso Italia; and Clark Gable checking the time in front of the Miramonti. It was a time when Ira Fürstenberg spent weeks in the Dolomites. La Dolce Vita, in Cortina.