On a mile-high terrace, I took my seat at an old wooden table, shed a layer, and slid on my ski goggles to look up at the sun. A paraglider on skis was dipping between the peaks of Tofana and Cristallo in Cortina’s Ampezzo Valley. This is winter in Northern Italy.

It’s pink rock spires at sunset over an Aperol Spritz and antipasto, or apple strudel if you prefer. And it’s an adrenaline rush: On that day this past January, I’d just skied to the mid-mountain Restaurant Col Drusciè down what will be the Milano-Cortina 2026 Women’s giant slalom course.