Up here in the Alpine Dolomites, the wide vista is painted with warm, vivid colors: swatches of deep-green pines, golden straw, grassy pastures and pink limestone ridges. It would be an idyllic panorama — if this were not the dead of winter and the height of the ski season in Italy’s most renowned, and most stylish, mountain resort. Just about the only snow to speak of these days is artificial, spewed from the “cannons” lining steep runs that wind for hundreds of yards down the jagged peaks.Europe is enduring one of its warmest winters on record. Throughout parts of Europe, flowers are blooming out of season, T-shirt weather is changing the winter dress code, and sports events are being postponed or abandoned. Ski-related businesses are suffering, and winter playgrounds from Austria to Spain have reported a drop in visitors. “I’ve never seen it so green,” said Benedetta Scatafassi, a businesswoman who has been vacationing at her winter home in Cortina for years. Forgoing the skis this season, she decided to go to one of the spas that have sprung up in fancier hotels. Where snow once coated the villages, a visitor today finds asphalt, apple trees bearing fruit and roofs with only a powdery dusting.
