The Punta Lunella is a mountain of the

Graian Alps The Graian Alps (Latin language, Latin:: ''Alpes Graiæ'' ; ; ) are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps, and the name of an Roman province, Antic Rome province. Etymology The name ''Graie'' comes from the ''Graioceli'' Celts, Celt ...

, with an elevation of 2,772 m.Geoportale IGM o
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Toponymy

In 1831 the mountain was named ''Punta Cruvin'' by the

topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...

Maggi after a nearby mountain pastures, "Alpe Cruvin". In the 1845 release of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

the mountain appears as ''Punta di Cruvin'', while a toponym ''Punta Lunel'' (also derived by the name of a mountain pasture) was applied to a lesser summit between the present-day Punta Lunella (2,772 m) and the Grand'Uja (2,666 m). On the following editions of the national

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...

the name ''Lunella'' (in the forms of ''La Lunella'' or ''Punta Lunella'') is permanently given to the 2,772 m mountain summit.

Geography

The mountain is located on the ridge dividing Val Susa (South) from Val di Viù, and stands on the border between 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

Viù Viù is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin. Viù's central square used to feature a wooden statue of Pinocchio, which is 6.53 meters tall and weighs ab ...

and Lemie (both in the

Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the prov ...

). Toward SE a mountain pass named ''Colle della Forcola'' (2,480 m) divides Punta Lunella from Rocca Maritano, while the main ridge goes West heading to the Rocciamelone. In the SOIUSA (''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps'') subdivision of Alps the mountain, along with Monte Arpone, gives its name to the Alpine subgroup ''Cresta Lunella-Arpone'' (

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-7.I-A.2.b).

Access to the summit

The easiest route for the summit is a footpath starting from the Prarotto chapel, a small isolated church in the

Condove Condove is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin, in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italian. It is located in the Val di Susa, approximately west of Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important bus ...

(

Susa Valley The Susa Valley (; ; ; ; ) is a valley in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont region of northern Italy, located between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the south. It is one of the longest valleys of the Italian Alps. ...

). A second route, slightly harder and which needs some

scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It can be described as being between hiking and climbing, rock climbing. "A scramble" is a relat ...

, starts from Pian Benot, a small sky resort in the Viù Valley..

Notes

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
* I.G.C. (''Istituto Geografico Centrale''): ''Carta dei sentieri e dei rifugi'' 1:50.000 scale n.2 ''Valli di Lanzo e Moncenisio'', and 1:25.000 scale n.110 ''Basse valli di Lanzo''

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* * ''Punta Lunella'': 360° panoramic image from the summit o
pano.ica-net.it

Punta Lunella, Italy on peakbagger.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunella Mountains of Piedmont Mountains of the Graian Alps Two-thousanders of Italy