Sestriere

Infobox CityIT
img_coa = Sestriere-Stemma.png official_name = Comune di Sestriere
name = Sestriere
region = Piedmont
province = Province of Turin (TO)
elevation_m = 2035
area_total_km2 = 25
population_as_of = 2003
population_total = 838
population_density_km2 = 34
timezone = CET, UTC+1
coordinates = coord|44|57|N|6|53|E|type:city(1,043)_region:IT
fractions = Borgata di Sestriere, Champlas Du Col, Champlas Janvier
telephone = 0122
postalcode = 10058
gentilic = Sestrieresi
saint = Saint Eduard
day = October 13
mayor = Colarelli Andrea Maria
website = [http://www.comune.sestriere.to.it/ www.comune.sestriere.to.it/]
mapy = 6.8000
mapx = 44.9500

Sestriere (French: Sestrières) is an alpine village in Italy, a comune (municipality) of the Province of Turin. It is 17 km (11 miles) from the French border. Its name derives from Latin: "ad petram sistrariam", that is at sixty Roman miles from Turin.

Sestriere is a popular skiing resort; during the winter holidays the population goes up to about 20,000 people. Together with the villages of Claviere, Sauze d'Oulx, Cesana Torinese and San Sicario, and Montgenèvre in France, it makes up the Via Lattea (Milky Way) skiing area. Sestriere is connected to 146 skiable pistes, for a total of up to 400 km of trails, of which 120 are provided with artificial snow.Sestriere is also one of the few facilities where it is possible to ski at night on a floodlit run.

It regularly hosts Alpine Ski World Cup events, and it hosted the World Championships in 1997; it was a main venue during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games and the 2006 Winter Paralympics, hosting all the men's alpine skiing competitions and being the site of one of the three Olympic Villages.

In the summertime it is possible to play golf on Europe's highest 18-hole course.

It is also a famous starting and arrival point in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia.

The two hotel towers, one of which was part of the Olympic Village, were built in the 1930s by FIAT's founder Giovanni Agnelli, and have become the symbol of the village; these were the first buildings of the village.

External links

* [http://www.vialattea.it/en/comprensorio.html Official website of the Via Lattea]
* [http://www.skiresorts-italy.com/sestriere.htm Guide to the Ski Resort of Sestriere]
* [http://www.fotogian.com/chisone.html Photos]