The Monte Capio is a mountain in 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 ...

of north-western

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 ...

; with an elevation of is one of the highest peaks of the Alpi Cusiane.

Geography

The mountain is located on the

water divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

between the valleys of the

Strona Strona is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northeast of Biella. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,217 and an area of .All demographi ...

and the Mastallone (the latter a side valley of

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 ...

). The main ridge goes on southwards with ''Passo dei Rossi'' (2,056 m), a mountain pass dividing Monte Capio from the neighbouring Cima dei Rossi (2,134 m), while northwards the chain continues with ''Bocchetta di Rimella'' (1,924 m) and then with the Altemberg. Administratively the summit of Monte Capio is the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

where the borders of the

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

s of

Rimella Rimella ( Walser German: ''Remmalju'', Piedmontese: ''Rimela'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Vercelli. Rimella borders the f ...

( VC),

Cravagliana Cravagliana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Vercelli. Cravagliana borders the following municipalities: Balmuccia, Cervatto, Fob ...

( VC) and Valstrona ( VB) meet. Close to the main elevation of the mountain stands a subsummit with a small

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

and a metal bell. A sharp saddle connecting it with the actual summit is equipped with a metal cable, in order to facilitate the passage. A trigpoint of the

IGM Immunoglobulin M (IgM) is the largest of several isotypes of antibodies (also known as immunoglobulin) that are produced by vertebrates. IgM is the first antibody to appear in the response to initial exposure to an antigen; causing it to also ...

marks the main summit, where also stands a metal box with a

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), ...

SOIUSA classification

According to the

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 can be 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 Cusiane * group = Costiera Capio-Massa del Turlo *

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-B.3

History

Alpe Laghetto miniera nichel sfondo Monte Capio Passo e Corno dei Rossi

On the eastern slopes of the mountain worked in the past a

nikel Nikel (, lit. ''nickel''; , , ) is an types of inhabited localities in Russia, urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Pechengsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located on the shores of Lake Kuets-Yarvi no ...

mine, whose remains are still recognisable. In 2017 the local authorities authorised new mining prospectings aiming to search for presence of nickel,

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

minerals.

Access to the summit

Monte Capio - segnale trigonometrico IGM

The summit of the Capio can be accessed starting from ''Campello Monti'' (a former autonomous

now belonging to Valstrona), or following a longer footpath from Sabbia, in

. The Monte Capio is quite a well known hiking destination because

Nature conservation

The slopes of Monte Capio facing Valstrona are part of the

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distr ...

of Alta Val Sesia e dell'Alta Val Strona.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capio, monte Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Piedmont Pennine Alps Two-thousanders of Italy