A remarkable new hotel has opened in Italy’s South Tyrol region with a whole host of activities on offer – including year-round skiing on an artificial slope that descends from the roof.

The Falkensteiner Family Resort Lido has been completely transformed from an earlier incarnation, re-opening at the weekend after a multi-million Euro makeover.

Now unique in the world, the hotel has been futuristically restyled the feature the ski slope on one side of its roof, but also an ice rink, soccer field and swimming pool on another part of the roof, which has been dubbed the “Sky Adventure Park.” Other attractions include a Valo Jump area, a Bobby car track and a jogging path.

The new 4-star Superior hotel is located in Ehrenburg, only 25 km from the large Kronplatz ski area in the Dolomiti Superski region.

The 150 metres long, 1400m2, ski slope is covered with Neveplast material with the ascent back up covered  by two conveyor belts positioned along the sides of the slope and by an elevator which takes skiers directly to the top of the slopes with a short connection walk.

Neveplast say that the slope has been configured for skiers of all ability levels. The hotel offers its own ski rentals and employs its own ski school for year-round instruction.

Sustainability is a key element of the Falkensteiner group’s operations and Neveplast provided a surface coloured in different shades of green (images are renderings before the slope was installed), with the aim of ultimately creating a slope as similar as possible to a natural lawn with grass growing through it, as Neveplast have provided for the Copenhill slope on the heat-to-power station in Copenhagen. Neveplast’s surface material is also made of recycled plastics and can itself by recycled at the ends of its life.