Val Gardena (Italian: [val ɡarˈdena]; German: Gröden [ˈɡʁøːdn̩]; Ladin: Gherdëina) is a valley in the Dolomites of northern Italy. It is best known as a skiing, rock climbing, and woodcarving area.

The valley's main river is the Derjon. The three municipalities in the Val Gardena are Urtijëi, Sëlva and Santa Cristina which were served by the Val Gardena Railway from 1916 until 1960.

Gherdëina is one of five valleys with a majority of Ladin speakers (two of these valleys are in South Tyrol). The form of the Ladin language spoken in this valley is called Gardenese in Italian, Grödnerisch in German and Gherdëina in Ladin.

The woodcarving industry has flourished in Gherdëina since the 17th century. Since the 19th century, statues and altars carved in the area have been shipped to Catholic churches throughout the world. In the 19th and 20th century, carving of wooden toys was such a widespread occupation in all Gardenese families that Amelia Edwards called Urtijëi the "capital of Toyland." One of the valley's best-known products is the peg wooden doll which was popular all over Europe and America in the 19th century.

Rok Perko (born June 10, 1985 in Kranj) is a Slovenian alpine ski racer. He is specialized in Downhill and Super-G.

His first FIS race was in January 2001. In the 2003/04 season he finished in fifth place in the 2004 Junior World Championship. In the same year, he won his first of nine Slovenian championship titles. He finished 14th in 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver as the best Slovenian competitor.

Dominik Paris (born 1989 in Merano) is an Italian alpine skier. He represents Italy at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Peter Fill (born November 12, 1982 in Kastelruth, South Tyrol) is an Italian alpine skier.

Peter Fill is an all-round skier. In the 2006/2007 season he was the first Italian athlete since Alberto Tomba in the leaders of the Ski World Cup.

At the age of 3 years old, he learned to ski with his first teacher Frieda Senoner. Fill obtained his first successes during his middle-school years, when he was coached by Peter Thomaseth.

In 1997/98 he came to the training-centre Schlerngebiet, where he had his uncle Arnold as coach. In the same year he joined Bolzano-Bozen's B-Pool (coached by Sepp Steinwandter). One year later he advanced to the A-Pool under Stephan Feichter.

In 1999 he had a great success, as he won every discipline at the National Junior Championships: he returned home with 4 Gold Medals and the Italian press called him "the phenomenon".

In 2000, Fill joined the national team for the first time. His coach was Ernst Pfeifhofer, who was also his coach the following year in the Italian B-Team. At the same time he became a member of the Carabinieri sportsgroup.