Skiers on the slopes of two of Italy’s most prestigious resorts will be able to dine on buckets of fried chicken between runs this winter as American fast-food chain KFC prepares to open outlets, angering mountain and food purists and prompting a prominent businessman to threaten legal action. KFC will open its first high-altitude restaurants on the slopes of Cortina d’Ampezzo and Madonna di Campiglio in the Dolomites on December 5, an initiative the company said aimed to “surprise people” and “reach places” where no one would expect to find it. The move marks the debut of any fast-food outlet on an Italian ski slope, with a menu packed with KFC’s most popular items, from hot wings and burgers to traditional fried chicken buckets. Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of the most prestigious ski resorts in Italy. Photograph: Ian Dagnall/Alamy The plans appear to have taken people by surprise, including Alberico Zardini, majority shareholder of Faloria Spa, the company that manages the infrastructure of Mount Faloria in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where a KFC will be installed at 2,123 meters above sea level. “The mere idea is shameful,” Zardini told Il Messaggero. “It is absurd and shameful to imagine a fast food restaurant in the most beautiful place in Cortina. Don’t the inhabitants of Cortina realize the risk we run here?” “I am 100% against it and I will not sit back and watch,” he said. The KFC in Madonna di Campiglio, in the southwest of Trentino, on the other side of the Dolomites, will be 1,700 meters from Piana di Nambino, next to an elegant après-ski club. its loyal Generation Z customers, “from young families to mountain lovers,” said Marzia Farè, marketing director of KFC Italia. “We strongly wanted this project because it perfectly represents the way we imagine the evolution of KFC: to continue to surprise, to reach places where no one would expect to find us and to do so without giving up what makes us unique,” he told brandnews.it. promotionCortina d’Ampezzo: The KFC branch will open inside the Faloria mountain club on Mount Faloria, above the city. Photograph: Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Needless to say, with the cost of ski passes in Italy increasing every year, the establishments will attract those looking for cheap food in otherwise extremely expensive resorts. But Oscar Farinetti, founder of Eataly, Italy’s high-end food chain, has said the brand “doesn’t belong here at all”, while blaming customers. “We, Italian consumers, should be a little more cultured,” he told Il Sole 24 Ore. “We need to recognize our advantages: our cuisine made with few ingredients and excellent products. A study of our own roots is missing: we eat fried chicken instead of a good portion of salami with a glass of fresh wine.” Paola Demagri, from the Trentino provincial council, spoke of the mountain identity being “sold to Kentucky chicken.” Others were more measured in their response. Cristian Ferrari, president of the Società Alpinisti Tridentini, the oldest mountain association in the Trentino area, said: “We have nothing against fried chicken, but are we sure that this is the issue that should worry us the most?”
