Colma di Mombarone (or simply ''Mombarone)'' is a mountain of the Biellese Alps, a sub-range of

Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (german: Walliser Alpen, french: Alpes valaisannes, it, Alpi Pennine, la, Alpes Poeninae), also known as the Valais Alps, are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Switzerland (Valais) and Italy ...

, in northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It visually marks, along with Monte Gregorio on the opposite side, the entrance of

Aosta Valley , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...

from the Po plain. On its top in 1900 was built a huge statue, still located there, of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

Etymology

The name comes from

Piedmontese language Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...

: ''Colma'' is a term used in the northern Piedmont and referring to a pass or a high place, while ''Mombarone'' is the italianisation of the piedmontese ''Monbaron'', where ''mon'' is for ''mount'' and ''baron'' means ''heap'' or ''pile''.

Geography

The mountain is located between

Dora Baltea Dora Baltea () or Doire Baltée () is a river 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 ''Duria Bautica''. Strabo called it Δουρ� ...

and Cervo valleys, on the border between

Province of Turin The former Province of Turin ( it, Provincia di Torino; pms, Provinsa ëd Turin; french: Province de Turin) was a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Turin. The province existed until 31 December 2014, when it wa ...

and

province of Biella The Province of Biella ( it, Provincia di Biella, Piedmontese: ''Provincia ëd Biela'') is a province of Italy located in Piedmont. It was created in 1992 and its capital is the city of Biella. It has an area of , and a total population of 178 5 ...

, both in Piemonte region. Administratively it is divided between the

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

s of Settimo Vittone (in the

province of Turin The former Province of Turin ( it, Provincia di Torino; pms, Provinsa ëd Turin; french: Province de Turin) was a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Turin. The province existed until 31 December 2014, when it wa ...

), Donato and

Graglia Graglia ( pms, Graja) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the ...

(both in the

SOIUSA classification

According to the

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

(''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps'') the mountain can be classified in the following way: * main part =

Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the 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 Switzerland ...

* major sector = North Western Alps * section =

* subsection = Southern Valsesia Alps * supergroup = Alpi Biellesi * group = Catena Tre Vescovi - Mars * subgroup = * code = I/B-9.IV-A.1

Access to the summit

The easiest routes for the summit are two long but well marked footpaths, one starting from San Giacomo di Andrate ( TO) and another from San Carlo di

( BI); both of them converge on the southern ridge of the mountain.''Guida alle Alpi biellesi'', Giancarlo Regis e Renza Piana Regis, libreria Vittorio Giovannacci, Biella 1981 Nearby the mountain's top, at 2,312 m, is located ''Rifugio Mombarone'', a permanent mountain hut.

Maps

* Italian official cartography ('' Istituto Geografico Militare'' - 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

{{Portal, Geography, Mountains
Mombarone Mombarone Two-thousanders of Italy Graglia