Blog | Villaggio ENI: a modern utopia in the shadow of the Winter Olympics

Seventy years after the Olympic Winter Games put the valley of Cortina d’Ampezzo firmly on the world map, the region once again finds itself in the spotlight with Milano Cortina 2026. A fitting moment to pause and reflect on a remarkable piece of architecture in the area: Villaggio ENI. The oil company ENI created a modernist holiday resort here for its employees and their families. The result was a visionary socio-architectural project designed by Edoardo Gellner in collaboration with Carlo Scarpa, and today it is enjoying a second life thanks to artistic initiatives and the opportunity to stay overnight.

La dolce Dolomita!

In the 1950s, Italy entered a period of unprecedented economic prosperity. Increasing numbers of Italians began to take holidays, Fiats and Vespas buzzed along motorways, and resorts sprang up like mushrooms. It was during this era that Enrico Mattei, entrepreneur and founder of the ENI oil company, commissioned architect Edoardo Gellner to design a unique holiday destination. It was to be a place where everyone working for the company, from executives to labourers, could enjoy a complimentary two-week family holiday immersed in nature.

High in the valley of the peaceful and relatively unknown Borca di Cadore, a series of residences in a clean Bauhaus style was built using local timber, concrete and stone. The 270 villas were cheerfully furnished with striking accents in red, blue and yellow, and allocated according to the size of each family. What had once been barren land was soon transformed into a lively village. The complex offered everything one might expect of a holiday paradise: a shop, ski lift, spa, children’s club, tennis and bowling courts, a cosy bar and even a church. In 1957, the first employees and their families moved into their visionary holiday retreat.

Modernist architecture

Villaggio ENI was conceived as a unique place where architecture, nature and social vision would come together. For Gellner, the project represented an opportunity to strengthen his reputation, culminating in the construction of the church in collaboration with his Venetian friend, the architect Carlo Scarpa. The result is a masterful fusion of Gellner’s rational modernist lines with Scarpa’s distinctive artistic flair: subtle decorative details, refined material choices, and a sensitive use of light and space that enhances the spiritual experience.

Staying at Villaggio ENI

In 1962, Enrico Mattei died in a plane crash, bringing further expansion of Villaggio ENI to an abrupt halt. The village continued to operate as a holiday resort for some time, but in 1992 the last guests departed, and eight years later the complex was sold. Some of the villas passed into private ownership, others were carefully restored to their original state by architecture enthusiasts, and in a few it is now even possible to stay overnight.

In 2011, the arts organisation Dolomiti Contemporanee took the initiative to breathe new life into the village. Dedicated to the regeneration of disused sites in the Dolomites, the organisation transformed the former holiday park through its ‘Progetto Borca’ into a creative base for artists, architects, designers and photographers. Thanks to this initiative, Gellner’s visionary ideas remain very much alive today, and Villaggio ENI continues to provide a fascinating link between the past and contemporary culture in the Dolomites.

Photography: Stefan Giftthaler - Aldo Ballo - Luciano Paselli