My love affair with the Dolomites

Photo Credit: Manuel Ploner

Winter is coming, and here's something I need to tell you: Italy in the colder months is absolutely magical.

Now, the Italian Alps might not have the flashy reputation of those famous French or Swiss resorts everyone talks about, but what they have in spades is something so much better - heart, authenticity, and this incredible melting pot of cultural traditions that will completely win you over after your first slopeside bombardino.

The real stars? The Dolomites - these 18 absolutely jaw-dropping limestone peaks that shoot up thousands of meters above sea level, stretching between Bolzano in the west and Cortina d'Ampezzo in the east.

Photo Credit: Manuel Ploner

That drive through the Dolomites? Nothing short of breathtaking. You're winding up and down these narrow mountain passes, and suddenly you're hit by the wild beauty of this almighty range that literally connects Italy's northern border to Austria's southern one. It's this area blessed with 300 days of sunshine a year - can you imagine? - and a microclimate that makes it one of Europe's absolute best regions for winemaking. Beautiful and so rich with life, it feels like discovering some incredible secret that's been hiding in plain sight.

La Perla: Corvara

Everything feels different here; the hotels are more like family estates that happen to welcome guests. We're talking three, four generations running the same property - grandparents at reception, parents in the kitchen, kids learning the family trade. The staff? Many have been there for decades. You're not checking into a business; you're being welcomed into a living legacy. And gee it feels nice.

The food situation is equally revelatory. They practically make everything themselves - not because it’s cool to say they do, but out of necessity and pride. You're eating food that exists because of this specific soil, these specific families, recipes that have never left these mountains. 

And the wine from Alto Adige... (okay, I may have developed a slight obsession). But here's my little secret: each year when I return to ski, I always make time for Markus Valentini's mountain hut, Rifugio Bioch. Having Markus guide you through his vast selection while you're literally surrounded by the peaks that shaped these wines? It's become one of those experiences I actually plan my entire trip around.

In Alta Badia, you encounter something even rarer: Ladin culture. Different language, different traditions - not performed for tourists, but simply how life operates here. You're witnessing cultural preservation in its most organic form.

While everyone chases ‘authentic experiences’, the Dolomites offer something that can't be manufactured: places where authenticity was never lost. Family hospitality that spans generations. Mountain culture that hasn't been packaged for consumption.

Your biggest decision becomes whether to have another glass of local wine while watching the phenomenon called ‘Enrosadira’ - Ladin for the blush-pink, coral, and fiery orange wash that spreads across the limestone peaks of the Dolomites. 

Its hard to choose the one thing that I love; the hospitality, the family traditions, the cultural preservation, the connection between food and place, the integration of wine and mountain culture - it all creates something that's increasingly rare in luxury travel: a place where authenticity and excellence coexist naturally.

That's the kind of luxury that stays with you long after you've returned home.