Within 10 minutes of leaving the golden-hued lakeside wine country and joining the road to Switzerland, the climate and the scenery become distinctively Alpine.

BBC: The spirit of the Italian Lakes

Many meteorologists and scientists say that a single warm winter is all part of the natural variations of an unpredictable climate, but a new climatic survey has reported that Europe's Alpine region is now warmer than at any other time since the Middle Ages, so could the current conditions be a taste of things to come?

CNN: Alpine resorts feel the heat