Driving north up the autostrada from Verona, en route to a couple of days' skiing in the Dolomites, my companion suffered a moment of panic. We had just passed a sign showing we were entering Süd Tirol. Was I sure we had not missed our turning?
Groping for fragments of remembered history, I reassured him. We were still in Italy. South Tirol was once part of the Austro-Hungarian empire - hence the use of German, widely spoken here - but had changed hands in the reordering of frontiers that followed the first world war. We, however, were heading for Canazei, in the neighbouring province of Trentino, where Italian predominated. To confuse the issue further, the romance language Ladin survived in pockets across the region.
His bewilderment served as a reminder that when it comes to attracting British skiers, the region has failed to realise its potential. Odd, this. Surely it can't all be down to a fuzzy identity. Some point to unreliable snow, though it is hard to imagine holiday skiers poring over the archives before deciding where to go.
Certainly, lack of snow was not a problem last winter. Heavy early storms blew in from the south, setting the Dolomites up for the season. When I skied there in late March, temperatures were spring-like and the snow on the lower and south-facing pistes was like wet sugar.
Such stamina-sapping conditions persuaded us to abandon plan A, which was to ski the whole of the Sella Ronda, a circuit of lifts and pistes which connects the resorts of Canazei, Selva and Corvara and takes several hours to complete. Instead, with local guidance we dipped into it, looking for northern exposures where the snow was less resistant. First, we headed for the Marmolada glacier above Arabba, which offers some of the most challenging runs in the area. Even on a day of almost Mediterranean balminess we found light snow on the upper runs, though the cable car to Punta Rocca - at 3,269m, the highest point from which you may descend, was closed by a buffeting wind.
Next morning, we drove to the San Pellegrino Pass, where the descent from the 2,513m Col Margherita, served by a cable car, remained in surprisingly good shape. In better conditions, we could have skied off the back of the mountain to Falcade but in the circumstances we were confined to the front face. It was yo-yo skiing but nonetheless enjoyable, for the run - a long, steepish red with a short deviation marked black - was hard work enough to dispel any notion that skiing in these mountains is bland and boring.
Whatever the conditions, the Dolomites have a lot going for them. Were it possible to organise a beauty contest of mountain ranges, these limestone spires, soaring rock faces and dark gorges would win hands down. Sculpted into weird shapes by erosion, they take their name from the 18th-century French geologist Dieudonné Dolomieu, who made the first scientific study of the region and its geology.
The great travel writer Freya Stark described them as "finicky", on account of the intricate detail of their parapets, which made comparison with the Alps "as a Japanese garden might look beside the old trees of an English park". The Victorian Alpinist Leslie Stephen, founder of the Dictionary of National Biography and father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, had conjured an oddly similar image: that they would have made a fit background for the garden of Kubla Khan.
There is a legend concerning the dwarf king Laurens, who kidnapped a princess whom he loved, only to see her retrieved by her brother and his men, who were led to his kingdom by the distant spectacle of the roses that grew profusely there. To ensure this never happened again, he turned the place to stone, saying the flowers must not appear, day or night. But he forgot to include dusk in his spell, which is why the crags of Il Catinaccio, otherwise known as Rosengarten, blush vivid pink at sunset.
Given the stubbornness with which Europe's mountain communities guard their local interests, the area has always struck me as a minor miracle of co-operation and organisation. Across the border in Austria, I recall having to get off a drag lift halfway up because the farmer who owned the meadow beyond that point would not agree a fee for crossing his land. Yet in the Dolomites, as long ago as 1974, dozens of towns and villages agreed to honour the early version of a pass which now covers nearly 740 miles of pistes and 464 lifts, many of which are linked to create a great sense of travelling on skis.
And the standard of cooking in mountain restaurants is arguably higher than anywhere else in the Alps - and certainly better value. At the Cima Uomo on the south-facing slopes of the San Pellegrino Pass, for example, I ate a delicious, light lasagne which bore little relation to the lumpen variety served in British pubs and cost only a touch over £3. Much the same could be said of eating at night in the valley restaurants. Particularly stunning was the Ristorante Malga Panna - it translates as a cream maker's hut - which is reached by a narrow winding road from the Val di Fassa town of Moena and which rates a star in Michelin.
There are some negatives, of course. The need to divvy up earnings from the Dolomiti Super ski pass inevitably creates frustrations. Unless you buy a wristwatch that can be loaded with payment and opens gates electronically, you will have to enter your ticket into a reader every time you get on a lift and sometimes, when you pass from one area of responsibility to another, as you get off it. The quality of lifts is also patchy, ranging from slow, ageing chairs to high-speed detachable quads and modern gondolas. Serious queuing can also be an irritation, particularly at weekends.
But the positives are enough for the Dolomites to deserve more instant and widespread recognition among British skiers. Certainly Süd Tirol merits a visit.
Getting there: Ryanair (0870 1569569, ryanair.com) flies from London Stansted to Brescia for upwards of £9 each way. A week's car hire through ryanair.com costs around £145. Operators offering packages in Trentino include Thomson (0870 6061470), First Choice (0870 7543477) and Crystal (0870 1606040). One week's half-board in Canazei, for example, mostly starts at just under £400. This season ends in most of the region's high resorts in mid April, in lower resorts next weekend.
Where to stay: This season's prices at the four-star Parc Corona Hotel (0462 764211) in Vigo di Fassa ranged from €63-110pp per night half board, but note that credit cards are not accepted.
Where to eat: Find the Cima Uomo Albergo at Passo S Pellegrino 1, 38035 Moena (tel: 0462 573369). At the Ristorante Malga Panna (Via Costalunga 29, 38035 Moena, tel: 0462 573369) expect to pay £30-£40 a head including wine. Albergo Hotel La Stua, is at Via Baldieroni 2, 38033 Cavalese, tel: 0462 340235).
Further information:
Trentino tourist board (020-8879 1405, trentino.to).
Time difference: GMT + 1hr.
Country code: 00 39.
Flight time, London Stansted to Brescia Montchari: 1hr 50mins. Drive time, Brescia to the Fassa valley: 3hrs.
£1 = 1.59 euros.
