CORTINA, CONT.

With 18 chefs in the kitchen, mixing Northern Italian, French bistro and Mediterranean cuisine, you know there’s some serious cooking going on besides breakfast. The 97-room inn owned since 1971 by Bob and Breda Harnish mixes bed-and-breakfast amenities with fine dining and a staff that pampers.

The first amenity that guests come across is a lobby furnished with antiques, fresh-cut flowers and other touches that soothe the eye. There are overstuffed couches and wing chairs with teddy bears tucked in their corners. The walls upstairs and down are lined with dozens of oil paintings and watercolors of country scenes by local artists, on sale by consignment.

The main lobby spills over into a sunken room with a circular bench surrounding a huge metal fireplace.

A highlight of each afternoon is the high tea served in the Centre Court, where guests get to mingle and chat over cookies and cake.

Ted Bridges, the general manager for the past 26 years, directs a full-time staff of 80, plus 40 part-timers. With 97 rooms, the risk of standardization would seem to be high, but all are furnished individually with a variety of well-restored old furniture, including brass beds with handmade quilts. Elegant antiques are scattered throughout the inn and rooms.

“We have a full-time painter and designer who’s not afraid to gut a room, remove the rugs, beds, wallpaper and start over from scratch with a whole new design,” said Peter Barmann of the sales department. “Every bed is different; so is every piece of furniture.”

Of the nearly 100 rooms, six are large suites, each with a fireplace, jacuzzi, wet bar and refrigerator, walk-in closet and private balcony. Six other rooms have their own fireplaces and the public areas of the beautiful inn contain five fireplaces.

But it’s the dining room, called Zola’s, where the Cortina is vaulted into the elegant hotel status. Some menu favorites are lamb loin chops, grilled vegetables, rock shrimp, Maryland lump crab, grilled chicken ravioli, wild mushrooms, served by a friendly laid-back staff not hesitant to engage in conversation. There is also a darkly stained and rustic rathskeller bar, Theodore’s Tavern, for sandwiches and pizza.

Conference facilities accommodate groups up to 150 guests. The 32-acre property features outdoor gardens and lawns that are blanketed deep in snow in the winter, but serve as the perfect backdrop for weddings, receptions, family reunions and other social affairs in the warm seasons.

Home of the Killington Junior Tennis Academy, the resort offers free court time to guests on eight tennis courts. The fitness workout room has free weights, treadmills and a stair master and the indoor pool is large enough (22 by 42 feet) for lap swimming. Besides a staff masseur, there are a whirlpool, sauna, locker rooms and showers.

Outdoors, Vermont’s famous Green Mountains beckon, with both the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail only two miles from the inn. The inn itself is the home of the Black Diamond Fly Fishing School. For mountain bikers, the nearby Killington Ski Resort offers rental bikes, guided tours and 100 miles of marked trails, some of it lift-served. Fifteen golf courses lie within an hours drive, including five (three of them championship) within a 15-mile radius.