Michil Costa, Ladin hotelier and man of nature, together with his family manages, following the principles of the Economy of the Common Good, in the Dolomites the Hotel La Perla - a member of The Leading Hotels of the World - the Berghotel Ladinia and the Alpine Hotel Gran Fodà; in Bagno Vignoni (Tuscany, Val d'Orcia) the Hotel La Posta.
Since 1997, he has been president of the ‘Maratona dles Dolomites’, the cycling marathon that exceeds expectations every year: over 30,000 applications for 8,000 participants, the closure to traffic of all six Dolomite passes, and six hours of live coverage on RAI channels.
But Michil Costa's story begins a few years earlier: at the age of 17 he ran away from home, wanted to travel the world and arrived in London where he was a rock music DJ. Then comes the conversion and Michil returns home. He opens Stüa de Michil, the first gourmet restaurant in the Dolomites. From an initial disaster, the turning point: the Süddeutsche Zeitung dedicates an article to him and Stüa de Michil breaks through. In 2006, he was awarded a Michelin star.
Today, his commitment goes far beyond gourmet cuisine. ‘Once the mountains were an obstacle for me, I thought you had to fill your life with things, but that's not the case.’ At La Perla, together with his employees, he draws up the balance sheet of the Economy of the Common Good: no longer profit as the sole yardstick for a company's success, but values such as the dignity of the human being, solidarity and justice, ecological sustainability, transparency and shared decision-making. No more apple strudel in summer, or berries in winter. Decisions are made together with the management teams, according to an internal democracy.
Michil fights for the protection of the environment, the Dolomites, for more consciousness and less waste. In 2008 and 2013 he stood as a candidate in the political party VerdiGrüneVërc list. He dreams of more sustainable tourism, the closure of the Dolomite passes to traffic a couple of hours a day, more bicycles and fewer motorbikes, more gentleness and less dumping prices. With the Costa Family Foundation, established in 2007, he and his collaborators support solidarity projects in Africa, India and Afghanistan, with the aim of improving access to education, the economic situation of women and environmental awareness, because ‘The greatest illusion we have is to think that you are there and I am here. Every action we take has an impact on the planet, on us, on each other. No man is an island.’
In 2022, he published his first book ‘FuTurismo’ published by Raetia publishing house, a well-rounded reflection against the industrialisation of the tourism economy and in favour of a culture of hospitality based on the solid values of the common good, respect and humanity.