I have been skiing all my life in Europe and North America, been to dozens of ski resorts, and can honestly say Cervinia is the worst resort I have been to.

Some good:

1- The village and landscapes are pretty, surrounded by very high peaks (including the Matterhorn) 2- Lots of restaurants and bars and a friendly village 3- Altitude is high (2000m - 3500m), that definitely helps with snow conditions and also some long runs.

A lot of bad:

1- Ski run quality: if you are anything above a medium skier, Skiing in Cervinia will be boring to you. There are no black runs in the entire mountain (actually it is not true, there is a small piece of a red called black on the Itialian side). There are even very few true red runs. Most runs are tagged 'red', but should be all blue in an international classification. In practice: All you do is ski on large, flat blues all day.

2- Lift infrastructure: is ridiculously bad! The entire main village has only ONE chair to go up. As you can imagine, on a busy day, it can take up to an hour to go up (see pciture). There is a gondola on the other side of the village (Valtournenche), if you like to hike 15 minutes with your skis. Additionally, the resort is quite spread (and hilly), but there are NO public shuttles. Any mid to large size resort has public shuttles, but not Cervinia.

3- Orientation and navigation. There is actually not one part of Cervinia 'Ski Paradise' skiing resort , but at least 3 parts, and 2 just on the Italian side - the Cervinia/Breuil (main village) side and the Valtournenche side. But there are very few places where to connect between the two parts (or the 3 parts with Switzerland), so getting around is super hard and time consuming. Combine that with the fact that there are NO signs on the slopes. Ok maybe there are 2 in the entire mountain. If you miss a turn, that may mean you are going to the wrong side of the mountain and need to take multiple lifts to go back to where you need to be. Which, when it is the end of the day, can be a costly mistake. You can find yourself at the bottom very far form your hotel or place you stay. Hope you dont mind spending 45 min to go back to the turn you missed, or walk with your skis 20+ minutes if the lifts are closed when you reach the bottom...and there are no shuttles to take you around at the bottom of the resort? :)

4- Snow condition: While being high altitude means better snow coverage in general, the resort is also known to be very windy, which means new snow gets wiped iff and conditions become very icy overall. With wind, big parts of the mountain close quickly. Maintenance seem also very poor on the slopes. If it snows, most runs wont open until 11 or 12 the next day....While everyone is coming to enjoy the fresh snow!

5- Lodging - I reserved quite late for my week trip, so I probably did not have all the best choices. But lodging was very expensive and the quality/price was very off. Many buildings seem to have been built in the 1960s or 1970s and are lacking basic comfort and facilities. There were a few 1000$ a night nice hotels, but that may not be for everyone

6- Non ski activities: Have kids or family members that don't ski? Youa re out of luck! Never seen a resort with ZERO options for hiking, snow rackets, kids activities...

In conclusion:

Cervinia 'Ski Paradise' is closer to helll :). It is worse for skiing than any mid size French or Swiss Alps resorts. Despite all the above, the lift tickets are 20% more expensive than a top resort in France, that includes: Many lifts to take you up the mountains, varied terrain including many true black runs, signs ont the slopes so you actually know where you are going, a shuttle bus to take you around at the base of the resort, good lodging (comparatively) and extra activity options.

In short, Cervinia built a reputation as a top resort. It just seems to have been stuck in the 1930s-70s where it started. Go there if you want to take a nice selfie at the bar with the Matterhorn. To ski, there are many, many better and cheaper choices.