Cortina has a long tradition in hosting writers, intellectuals, poets and editors from all over the world.
Ernest Hemingway, Saul Bellow, Dino Buzzati, as well as Vittorio Gassman, Leonardo Sciascia, Leonardo Mondadori and many others, spent their vacations in the town and took part in the cultural life of the city.
Through the years, this led to a continuous activity of literature festivals and book presentations, like Una Montagna di Libri ("A Mountain of Books"), held twice a year since 2009.
The festival attracted to Cortina writers as Azar Nafisi, Peter Cameron, Emmanuel Carrère.

Music is important to the locals of Cortina, with a guitar found in most houses, and young musicians are often found walking the streets.
Every year, from the end of July to early August, Cortina hosts the Dino Ciani Festival and Academy.
It is held in honour of the celebrated Italian pianist Dino Ciani (1941–1974) who died when he was only 32.
The festival attracts young pianists from around the world who are able to benefit from classes with some of the world's leading performers.
The Festival of the Bands is another annual musical event featuring brass bands from Italy and beyond during the last week of August.
Cortina's own band, parading in traditional costumes, is a central attraction dating back to 1861.
Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the 1953 Miss Italia contest, won by Marcella Mariani.
Traditionally, on the eves of the festivals of Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity and St Philip and St James, the youth of the town would climb the hills at sunset and light fires.

After Ernest Hemingway's wife Hadley lost a suitcase filled with Hemingway's manuscripts at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, he took a time off.
He began writing that same year in Cortina d'Ampezzo, writing Out of Season.

The dominant religion in the comune of Cortina d'Ampezzo is Roman Catholicism.

Among the religious minorities, mainly a result of recent immigration, there is a small community of Eastern Orthodox Christians and Muslims.
There is also a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, which has its headquarters in Pian da Lago.

The surroundings of Cortina have been the location for a number of movies, including mountain climbing scenes for Cliffhanger, Krull and  The Pink Panther.
The resort was the primary area for location shooting in Sergio Corbucci's Revisionist Spaghetti Western The Great Silence; the resort was used to represent Utah in the winter of 1898.
It was a glamorous location for Elizabeth Taylor in Ash Wednesday (1973), and was also a major location for the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
 Roger Moore's James Bond meets the character Luigi Ferrara (John Moreno) at the peak of Tofana and stays at the Hotel Miramonti.
A number of action sequences were shot in the town involving Bond and Erich Kriegler (John Wyman), as Kriegler competes in the biathlon.
The battle culminates in one of the famous ski chase sequences in film, where Bond has to escape Kriegler and a crew of assassins on a spike-wheeled motorcycles, his route taking them all onto the bobsleigh run.
The actual town centre was also the scene of the first attack on Bond and his partner Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) by two motorcyclists who attempted to run them over, only for Bond to eliminate them both, putting one of them through the window of a local florist.
Cortina has a long tradition in hosting writers, intellectuals, poets and editors from all over the world. Ernest Hemingway, Saul Bellow, Dino Buzzati, as well as Vittorio Gassman, Leonardo Sciascia, Leonardo Mondadori and many others, spent their vacations in the town and took part in the cultural life of the city. Through the years, this led to a continuous activity of literature festivals and book presentations, like Una Montagna di Libri ("A Mountain of Books"), held twice a year since 2009. The festival attracted to Cortina writers as Azar Nafisi, Peter Cameron, Emmanuel Carrère.
Music is important to the locals of Cortina, with a guitar found in most houses, and young musicians are often found walking the streets. Every year, from the end of July to early August, Cortina hosts the Dino Ciani Festival and Academy. It is held in honour of the celebrated Italian pianist Dino Ciani (1941–1974) who died when he was only 32. The festival attracts young pianists from around the world who are able to benefit from classes with some of the world's leading performers. The Festival of the Bands is another annual musical event featuring brass bands from Italy and beyond during the last week of August. Cortina's own band, parading in traditional costumes, is a central attraction dating back to 1861. Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the 1953 Miss Italia contest, won by Marcella Mariani. Traditionally, on the eves of the festivals of Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity and St Philip and St James, the youth of the town would climb the hills at sunset and light fires.
After Ernest Hemingway's wife Hadley lost a suitcase filled with Hemingway's manuscripts at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, he took a time off. He began writing that same year in Cortina d'Ampezzo, writing Out of Season.
The dominant religion in the comune of Cortina d'Ampezzo is Roman Catholicism.
Among the religious minorities, mainly a result of recent immigration, there is a small community of Eastern Orthodox Christians and Muslims. There is also a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, which has its headquarters in Pian da Lago.
The surroundings of Cortina have been the location for a number of movies, including mountain climbing scenes for Cliffhanger, Krull and  The Pink Panther. The resort was the primary area for location shooting in Sergio Corbucci's Revisionist Spaghetti Western The Great Silence; the resort was used to represent Utah in the winter of 1898. It was a glamorous location for Elizabeth Taylor in Ash Wednesday (1973), and was also a major location for the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.  Roger Moore's James Bond meets the character Luigi Ferrara (John Moreno) at the peak of Tofana and stays at the Hotel Miramonti. A number of action sequences were shot in the town involving Bond and Erich Kriegler (John Wyman), as Kriegler competes in the biathlon. The battle culminates in one of the famous ski chase sequences in film, where Bond has to escape Kriegler and a crew of assassins on a spike-wheeled motorcycles, his route taking them all onto the bobsleigh run. The actual town centre was also the scene of the first attack on Bond and his partner Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) by two motorcyclists who attempted to run them over, only for Bond to eliminate them both, putting one of them through the window of a local florist.
Cortina d'Ampezzo