The Biellese Alps (''Alpi Biellesi'' or ''Prealpi Biellesi'' in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

) are a sub-range of the

Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (, , , ), sometimes referred to as the Valais Alps (which are just the Northern Swiss part of the Pennine Alps), are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Italy (the Aosta Valley and Piedmont) an ...

located between

Piemonte Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the northwest. Pied ...

and

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

(

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Etymology

''Alpi Biellesi'' literally means ''Alps of Biellese''; ''Biellese'' is the geographical and historical area surrounding

Biella Biella (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the northern Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the Province of Biella, province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of ...

, nowadays included in the

province of Biella The province of Biella (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''provincia ëd Biela'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. It was created in 1992 and its capital is the city of Biella. Culture Biella is home to th ...

Geography

Administratively most part of the range belongs to the

, while its northern part falls in the

province of Vercelli The province of Vercelli () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is Vercelli. , it has an area of and a total population of some 176,000. It is an area known for the cultivation of rice. Main sights ...

and the western one is divided between

Province of Turin The province of Turin (; ; ) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Turin. The province existed until 31 December 2014, when it was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Turin. Geography It ...

and

SOIUSA classification

According to

SOIUSA Alps by SOIUSA. SOIUSA (an acronym for - English: ''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps-ISMSA'') is a classification system of the Alps from the geographic and toponomastic point of view. It was designed by Sergio Maraz ...

(''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps'') the mountain range is an Alpine supergroup classified in the following way: * main part =

Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the Alps, Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzer ...

* major sector = North-Western Alps * section =

* subsection = Southern Valsesia Alps * supergroup =Alpi Biellesi *

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

= I/B-9.IV-A

Borders

Borders of the Alpi Biellesi are: * Colle del Loo (2,452 m) and

Valsesia Valsesia (; Walser German: ''Tseschrutol'') is a group of valleys in the north-east of Piedmont in the Province of Vercelli, Italy; the principal valley is that of the river Sesia. The major towns located here are Varallo Sesia, Borgosesia ...

from Val Vogna to Varallo Sesia (north), *

from Varallo Sesia to

Gattinara Gattinara () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about north of Vercelli. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 8,506 and an area of ...

(east), *

Po plain The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic extension not actually related t ...

between

and

Ivrea Ivrea (; ; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley (part of the medieval Via Francigena), it straddles the Dora Baltea and is ...

(south), *

Dora Baltea The Dora Baltea () or Doire Baltée () is a river in the Aosta Valley and in Piedmont, in northwestern Italy. It is a left-hand tributary of the Po and is about long. Name The river's Latin name was ''Duria maior'', ''Duria Baltica'' or ''Duri ...

until Pont Saint Martin and Lys creek until Gaby and Colle del Loo (west).

Subdivision

Catena tre vescovi mars da biella tiro a volo

Catena bo barone da biella tiro a volo 03

The Alpi Biellesi are divided into two alpine groups, one of them further subdivided in subgroups (in brackets is reported their

SOIUSA code image:SOIUSA-sezioni.png, Alps by SOIUSA. SOIUSA (an acronym for - English language, English: ''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps-ISMSA'') is a classification system of the Alps from the geography, geographic and toponoma ...

): * Catena Tre Vescovi -

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

(''A.1'') * Catena

Monte Bo Monte Bo (or ''Cima di Bo)'' is a mountain in the Alpi Biellesi, a sub-range of Pennine Alps. Geography The mountain is located between Sessera Valley, Sessera and Cervo (river), Cervo valleys and is totally included in the province of Biell ...

- Barone (''A.2'') ** Costiera Talamone- Barone (''A.2.a'') ** Costiera

- Punta del Cravile- Monticchio (''A.2.b'') These two subgroups are connected by Bocchetta del Croso.

Geology

From the geological point of view the Alpi Biellesi are composed by an alpine zone in the strict sense of the word and a '' prealpine'' zone, divided by the Insubric line (locally named ''Linea del Canavese''). This important

geologic fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

, which forms the border between the

Adriatic Plate The Adriatic or Apulian plate is a small list of tectonic plates, tectonic plate carrying primarily continental crust that broke away from the African plate along a large transform fault in the Cretaceous period. The name Adriatic plate is usu ...

and the European Plate, crosses Biellese from SW to NE through Bocchetto di Sessera and Bocchetta della Boscarola passes. Thus hills and mountains (i.e. Monte Barone) located south-east of the line can be considered part of southern Apulian foreland while most part of the range, located NW of the line, geologically belongs to the

crystalline A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macrosc ...

zone of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

Notable summits

Il Monte Mucrone dal sentiero che sale al Monte Becco

Notable passes

Bocchetta boscarola da bocchetto sessera

Winter sports

In the Alpi Biellesi are located some

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North Am ...

s: Oropa (

) in the western part, with

downhill skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

slopes ranging from 1,335 to 2,391 m; Alpe di Mera (

Scopello __NOTOC__ Scopello is a ''comune'' (municipality) located in the Valsesia region of the Italian Pennine Alps, administratively in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont. The municipality covers an area of and ranges in elevation from above sea level ...

) and Bielmonte in the eastern part of the range. Near Bielmonte is also possible to practice

cross country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

with more than 30 km of maintained trails starting from Bocchetto Sessera (1,373 m).

Hiking and climbing

Many

climbing route A climbing route () is a path by which a Climbing, climber reaches the top of a mountain, a rock face or an ice-covered obstacle. The details of a climbing route are recorded in a climbing guidebook and/or in an online climbing-route database. De ...

s of varying length and difficulty are described across the mountain range. Some of the most renowned are in the monte Mars area, like ''via Innominata'' and ''cresta dei Carisey''. In the Alpi Biellesi there also are several vie ferratas, particularly around

Oropa Oropa is a ''frazione'' of the municipality of Biella, in Piedmont, northern Italy. It is famous for the Black Virgin of Oropa statue, which is located in the Sanctuary of Oropa, the List of basilicas in Italy, basilica of the Sacro Monte di Oro ...

. The ''Alta Via delle Alpi Biellesi'' (literally ''high way of the Alpi Biellesi''), a long-distance hiking trail which requires some climbing skills, covers the mountain range starting from

Piedicavallo Piedicavallo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Biella. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 189 and an area of .All demograph ...

and ending in the village of Bagneri ( Muzzano). The trekking is usually divided into five stretches and along it is possible to get food and accommodation in the following alpine huts: rifugio Rivetti, rifugio della Vecchia, capanna Renata al Monte Camino, rifugio Coda and rifugio Mombarone.''Alta Via delle Alpi Biellesi'', web page o
www.montagnabiellese.com
(accessed on September 2012)

Bibliography

* *

Maps

* Italian official cartography (''

Istituto Geografico Militare The ''Istituto Geografico Militare'' (IGM), or Military Geographic Institute, is an Italian public organization, dependent on the Italian Army general staff (''Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito''). It is the national mapping agency for Italy.

'' - IGM); on-line version
www.pcn.minambiente.it
* Provincia di Biella cartography: ''Carta dei sentieri della Provincia di Biella'', 1:25.00 scale, 2004; on line version
webgis.provincia.biella.it

References

:''This article was originally translated from its counterpart on the

Italian Wikipedia The Italian Wikipedia () is the Italian language, Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on 10 May 2001, and first edited on 11 June 2001. As of , it has articles and more than registered accounts. It is the -largest W ...

, specifically fro
this version
''

External links

* http://www.alpibiellesi.it

{{Italy topics Pennine Alps Mountain ranges of Italy Mountain ranges of Piedmont Province of Biella