#56 / The Queen of the Dolomites
These first few days of the year have been quite chilly here in Milan. And foggy too: a muffled atmosphere has engulfed the city, almost as though everything were sleeping.
I confess that I like fog. Maybe not behind the wheel, but seeing it through the window reminds me of when I was a child and couldn’t understand why, at a certain time in the afternoon, the air would lose its transparency and become almost solid, opaque. And everything would turn grey.
While grey can also be stylish, enough now of this gloominess: I’m in the mood for sunshine and blue skies. You know that blinding light that reflects off the snow? That’s more like it!
And so, I thought to myself, why not celebrate this Sunday in January with a lovely little trip to the mountains?
After all, we’re spoilt for choice here. The entire Alpine area boasts a thousand destinations: from the Aosta Valley to the Alto Adige region, from Mont Blanc to the Dolomites.
But I do have to make a choice – we can’t always teleport ourselves up and down the whole peninsula... I’ve made up my mind! Even though it’s not exactly close to Milan, I’ll take you to the border between Veneto and Alto Adige: let’s go to Cortina d’Ampezzo, the Queen of the Dolomites.
Not an expert skier? No matter, neither am I! You’ll see, I’m absolutely certain we won’t get bored.
Cortina is charming and elegant. And strategically located too, right in the heart of a valley surrounded by a crown of rocky peaks: these are the Ampezzo Dolomites, truly striking in their shapes and colours – especially at sunset, or at dawn, when the low sun tinges everything with a reddish hue: so much for grey! ;)
After so many hours in the car, let’s stretch our legs a little in town: Corso Italia is full of shops, and some super snazzy ones at that. I always enjoy window shopping: a hundred colours, a thousand ideas and countless sources of inspiration. You should know that, especially at times like this (we’re currently planning the next Autumn/Winter collection), I get inspired by everything I do or see: just imagine what that means with a stretch of shop windows like this... ;)
But since we’re in the Dolomites, we can’t just restrict ourselves to a city stroll... You simply need to raise your eyes and the beauty of these summits opens up a truly fascinating panorama. So what are we still doing here? Let’s take climb up!
Five minutes on the chairlift takes us up to 2,255 metres: the Scoiattoli Refuge is also open in winter and is perfect for admiring the Cinque Torri – five massive and majestic spires of rock, the emblem of Cortina and the entirety of the Dolomites themselves. But most importantly: you can eat at the refuge!
Here’s an idea! Let’s get a table in a second room, opposite the terrace. Here, with a view of some other peaks (the Nuvolau and the Averau), not only will we delight our eyes, but we’ll also treat our stomachs: I suggest a nice dish of Violette ai Sapori di Bosco – home-made tagliatelle, flavoured with blueberries.
Happy and well fed, we get back on the chairlift, then in the car, and return to the Po Valley: it’s going to be an intense few weeks planning the Collection for next winter. But we’ll speak soon: these little flights of fancy are good for my creativity too!
Lots of love,
Marco
