Monte Viso or Monviso (; ; or simply ) is the highest mountain of the

Cottian Alps The Cottian Alps (; ; ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France (Hautes-Alpes and Savoie) and Italy (Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus Rail Tunnel between Modane and Susa, Ital ...

, located in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, 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 ...

, Italy, close to the French border. Monte Viso is well known for its pyramid-like shape. Because it is higher than all its neighbouring peaks by about 500 m, it can be seen from a great distance, including from the Piedmontese plateau, the Langhe, the Theodulpass in the

Zermatt Zermatt (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the German language, German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is cl ...

ski area, the

Col du Galibier The Col du Galibier (el. ) is a mountain pass in the southern region of the France, French Dauphiné Alps near Grenoble. It is the eighth List of highest paved roads in Europe, highest paved road in the Alps, and recurrently the List of highe ...

and the summits of the Mont Blanc massif. On a very clear day, it can be seen from the spires of

Milan Cathedral Milan Cathedral ( ; ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary (), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of Mary, Nativity of St. Mary (), it is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdi ...

. It has been suggested that Monte Viso could be one of the mountains which inspired the

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

logo, even though the company has denied the claims. In Italy it is also known as ("the Stone King") because of its prominence within the western

Italian 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. ...

. It was declared a cross-border

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

biosphere reserve in 2013. The longest river of Italy,

River Po The Po ( , ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy, starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is , or if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. The headwaters of the Po are formed by a spring ...

, is born at the mountain's foot.

Geography

On the northern slopes of Monte Viso are the

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

of the Po, the longest Italian river, the so-called

Pian del Re Pian may refer to: * Pian (disease), a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints * Pian-e Olya, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * Pian-e Sofla, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * Pian Rural District, in Khuzestan Province, Iran * ...

(2,020 m). The Monviso group is surrounded by the Valle Po, Valle Varaita and, on the French side, the Guil valley. The northern sector of the group, from the

Punta Gastaldi The Punta Gastaldi is a mountain in the Cottian Alps with an elevation of 3,214 m (3,210 m according to French IGN cartography). It is located on the northern ridge of the Monviso group, a short distance from the border between Italy and France; ...

to the Col de la Traversette, is located on the French border. Monviso seen from Saluzzo 11-12-2021

SOIUSA classification

According to the SOIUSA (''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 = South Western Alps * section =

* subsection = southern Cottian Alps * supergroup = catena Aiguillette-Monviso-Granero * group = gruppo del Monviso isa * subgroup = nodo del Monviso *

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/A-4.I-C.8.a Monviso - panoramica cresta da Ostanetta

History

Monte Viso is the location of a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

jadeite Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral with composition Na Al Si2 O6. It is hard (Mohs hardness of about 6.5 to 7.0), very tough, and dense, with a specific gravity of about 3.4. It is found in a wide range of colors, but is most often found in shades ...

quarry, at an elevation of 2,000 to 2,400 metres. Its productivity peaked around 5000 BC. The jadeite was used to make cult

axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

s, which are found all over western Europe. One such ceremonial axe head was found as far away as a small hill called Tristia in Western

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and is on display in the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, Dublin. In ancient times the mountain was known as Vesulus.Lewis C. T. and Short C., 1879, ''Latin Dictionary'', p 1982, citing Virgil ''Aen''. X 708 and Pliny 3. 16. 20 §117. Monte Viso was climbed for the first time on August 30, 1861 by William Mathews, Frederick Jacomb, Jean-Baptiste Croz and

Michel Croz Michel Auguste Croz (22 April 1830 in Le Tour, Chamonix valley – 14 July 1865, on the Matterhorn) was a Chamoniard mountain guide of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the first ascentionist of many mountains in the western Alps during the golden ag ...

. The first woman to summit the mountain was Alessandra Boarelli (1838–1908) on 16 August 1864.

Monte Viso in literature

Monte Viso is mentioned by various authors, Italian and non-, including

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

, and

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He ...

. Dante mentions the mountain in a long

simile A simile () is a type of figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes are often contrasted with metaphors, where similes necessarily compare two things using words such as "like", "as", while metaphors often create an implicit c ...

in Canto XVI of the Inferno as the source of the Montone River:

cites the mountain in the prologue to the Clerk's Tale in his

Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' () is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The book presents the tales, which are mostly written in verse (poetry), verse, as part of a fictional storytellin ...

, in a passage adapted from Petrarch's

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

version of his "Tale of Griselda":

(Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Clerk's Tale," from ''The Canterbury Tales'')

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Monte Viso on SummitPost
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viso Alpine three-thousanders Populated places established in the 5th millennium BC Mountains of Piedmont Mountains of the Alps Province of Cuneo Biosphere reserves of France Biosphere reserves of Italy Three-thousanders of Italy Neolithic Italy Archaeological sites in Piedmont