Text by Teemu Virtanen
For every long distance skier from professionals to new beginners Marcialonga in Italy is an event that has been sprinkled with fairy dust a bit more than other cross-country ski events in the world. The atmosphere is certainly second-to-none, and the famous last climb, Cascata Hill, remains a landmark like no other.
The event started almost 50 years ago when a bunch of Italian cross-country ski lovers wanted to create their own Vasaloppet in the valleys of Val di Fiemme and Val di Fassa. Since its humble beginnings, this “long march” has grown into a spectacle with thousands of participants and cheering spectators along the course. One man who has been behind the scenes for more than 40 years is Angelo Corradini, a person who is known to everyone in the skiing family around the world.
This 72-year-old dynamo shows no signs of slowing down because he loves skiing with all of his heart. He has participated in more than 20 Worldloppet events, he has five Worldloppet Master diplomas and he has taken part in five Russialoppet races as well. He used to be the Chairman of Worldloppet, the global organization for long distance skiing, and he is currently an honorary member of FIS, the International Ski Federation.
When asked about his potential contribution to Nordic skiing as a member of FIS, he humbly says that there are more than 1,000 people at every FIS congress talking about the development of the sport and he is only one person, not a magician. However, he strongly feels that today’s top athletes have distanced themselves from their adoring fans and thus lost their sense of reality. He thinks that people should have a chance to “touch their heroes” and not just to look at them from afar.
What else does this energetic and warmhearted Italian family man want to tell us? Without further ado, we can take a deep dive into Angelo’s life and find out what he has to say about skiing, Marcialonga, Visma Ski Classics, himself and the perks of life.
“When I was growing up after the World War II, everyone was poor, and we didn’t have a lot of opportunities for hobbies. Thus, skiing was a natural choice in the winter. At the age of 14-15, I participated in some Nordic combine and ski jumping competitions with no great success. Then, in the army I received a diploma as a ski instructor, but I haven’t really used it,” Angelo reveals about his youth.
He admits being a family man who loves the nature around him when doing sports outdoors. No wonder Marcialonga came calling, and he started working for the organization in 1979.
“I was asked to be the Secretary General of the organization by the Vice President, and I accepted. It wasn’t the best of times for Marcialonga as we then had less than 4,000 participants, low media interest and exposure, no significant sponsors and a high debt to pay to our bank. So, it took me and my organization a lot of time to turn things around.”
Angelo takes a moment to think about some of the greatest moments and achievements that he has been blessed to be part of.
“There are so many great memories, and some bad ones like our two cancelations due to the lack of snow. I remember the first live broadcast on our national television, RAI 3, in 1982, being the Secretary General of the FIS World Championships in 1991, 2003 and 2013, the first time we had our full 70 km course covered by artificial snow, the time we joined Visma Ski Classics and our two Best Event of the Year awards and finally, the recognition from the Province of Trento with their prize of the Aquila di San Venceslao this summer. Marcialonga was the first sports event to receive this prestigious award.”
Since the history of the event is long and comes with many great memories, it may be difficult to think ahead and develop the brand even further. Angelo is not overly concerned about the future.
“The previous Chairman of Marcialonga Giulio Giovannini used to say that the most important cycling event in the world is Parigi Roubaix, which has the worst course of any one-day road bike races. More or less, the same applies to Marcialonga. But we are loved by the people because of the atmosphere and the villages that our course goes through. The last climb, good food, great wine, our hospitality and so forth, these are the things that people remember when going home. Regarding any future developments, we are investing more in the snow production and technical course preparations. Additionally, we will focus even more on media and promotion.”
In addition to being responsible for leading the Marcialonga organization, Angelo was the Chairman of Worldloppet for 12 years. He has fond memories of those years, and he is happy to see that many new events were included in the roster during his time as the chairman. He believes that the organization needs to stay as “the official voice” for the masses. According to him, the goal needs to be making skiing more popular and focus on the recreational aspect of the sport rather than the competitive one.
Visma Ski Classics, on the other hand, is the biggest platform for competitive long distance skiing, and Angelo is quick to acknowledge its importance.
“I was honored to be part of the first meeting we had at the Vasaloppet Hus in Mora. I was there with Gloria Trettel and Jonas Bauer. The tour has grown, and Visma Ski Classics is now an international media-friendly product thanks to the professional organization running things behind the scenes. This brings an enormous value to Marcialonga as well. We can see how the media exposure grows every year and more teams and athletes step into the arena. I’m very positive about the future of Visma Ski Classics and long distance skiing in general.”
Angelo has had a rich and colorful life so far, but is there anything left for him to achieve? Are there any big dreams he is still trying to fulfill?
“At this age, I’m happy to do whatever I want. I can go skiing in the winter and enjoy it as much as I can. I can take my old cars out for a spin or go mountain biking if I feel like it. Next year, I’m planning to do a mountain bike tour in Norway for two weeks. I’m not involved in the Val di Fiemme Olympic Committee for the 2026 Games, not part of FIS or Worldloppet in any official capacity, so I can fully devote my time to Marcialonga. It’s still a passion for me, and I want to stay in the organization for some more years.”
We all want to see Angelo pulling the strings behind the scenes and sharing his expertise and spreading the love of skiing as much as he can. To wrap this chat up, it makes sense to find out if this man of many talents and years of experience has a fitting motto for our readers to live by. It comes as no surprise that the one that he conjures up is certainly worth taking seriously:
“Nothing worth having comes easy!”
