Cortina has long been one of Italy’s most famous ski towns, and Faloria has long been one of Cortina’s most famous hotels. But it’s only now, after a complete redesign at the hand of architect Flaviano Capriotti, that the Faloria Mountain Spa Resort ascends to the highest levels of contemporary luxury hospitality.

At Schwarzschmied, you’ll find a distinctly Italian version of the Alpine good life. The design may veer towards Nordic simplicity but there’s also a thread of modernist-inspired contemporary Italian luxury design in the sleek, low-slung furnishings and the rich, earthy background colors.

You’ll find echoes of both German and Italian cultures in the South Tyrol town of Lana, but it’s a place with a character all its own. And the same can be said of its hotels, thanks in no small part to 1477 Reichhalter, a 500-year-old structure updated with mid-century modern design pieces, refashioned into a contemporary-yet-timeless boutique hotel.

Floris is a ten-suite treehouse-style hotel within a hotel, its abstracted lodge-like forms elevated on stilts to minimize their footprint. The interiors use classic Alpine materials like timber floors, combined with clean-lined modernist furniture and fixtures, and dark, rich colors that lend an urban-boutique aspect.

Forestis Dolomites is a strikingly modern luxury lodge built of stone, glass, and wood both inside and out. The hotel is beautifully integrated into the landscape, and the interior design makes the most of it; guest rooms are bathed in natural light, thanks to picture windows that open onto views of the wilderness.

From the outside, Goldene Rose is an immaculately well-kept Tyrolean inn, and on the inside, a hotel that’s clearly absorbed the influence of a generation or two of stylish Italian hospitality design. This means expanses of knotted pine wood alongside understatedly chic furnishings and tastefully muted textiles.

Italy’s Dolomites have long been the site of some of the more adventurous currents in Alpine hotel design, and Alpin Garden Luxury Maison is perfectly emblematic of this tendency. Its silhouette and materials are classic, but look closer and you’ll see modernist forms in the exterior and unusual surfaces in the lodge-meets-loft rooms and suites.

The Dolomites is one of the last places where you say “old-fashioned” with reverence and “rustic” without affectation. For three generations and counting, the Wieser family has been keeping that tradition alive at Hotel Ciasa Salares, an ode in rich timber and textile to the region’s venerable Ladin culture.

Cheese enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that the Asiago Plateau is a real place — and a strikingly beautiful one at that. There’s an excellent hotel up here in the mountains, too. The Meltar, occupying a restored old farmhouse, is a perfectly tranquil getaway from the tourist crush of the Veneto.

Castel Fragsburg occupies what may be the most privileged position in this beautiful corner of South Tyrol. It’s located inside an elegant hunting lodge that first opened its doors nearly four centuries ago — and on a nearby cliffside is the 14th-century castle for which it was built, now used to host hotel events.

In its broadest contours this South Tyrol hotel is true to Alpine lodge tradition — but its asymmetrical rooflines, its slate-gray larch cladding, and the swooping, organic curves of its façade reveal that Milla Montis is as modern as can be. The interiors follow suit, in acres of warm ash with forest-green woolen furniture.

In the UNESCO-listed Dolomites village of Castelrotto, a relatively undistinguished 1980s-vintage hotel has been transformed into the truly unique Schgaguler Hotel. Architect Peter Pichler has kept the peaked silhouettes, but replaced the façade with a minimalist grid of white concrete and vast expanses of glass.

As you’d expect from a hotel called Gourmet- und Boutiquehotel, Restaurant Tanzer, the cuisine is a focal point, and it’s suitably elaborate, combining South Tyrolean and Mediterranean flavors with the spirit of abundant, healthy eating that’s native to the Alps. It’s a perfect introduction to Alpine life, for all four seasons. As to what this picture is all about, you’ll have to visit to find out.