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, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

) are a sub-range of the

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 ( ...

located between

Piemonte it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and

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 ...

(

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 re ...

Etymology

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

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin an ...

, nowadays included in the

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

Geography

Administratively most part of the range belongs to the

, while its northern part falls in the

province of Vercelli A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

and the western one is divided 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

SOIUSA classification

According to

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 designe ...

(''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 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 *

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 communication ...

= I/B-9.IV-A

Borders

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

Valsesia Valsesia ( pms, Valsesia; Walser German: ''Tseschrutol''; it, Valle della Sesia) 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 h ...

from Val Vogna to

Varallo Sesia Varallo Sesia (Piedmontese: ''Varal''), pronouciation (Vhuh-rahl-loh) commonly known as Varallo, is a ''comune'' and town in the province of Vercelli in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is situated in Valsesia, at above sea level and some north- ...

(north), *

from

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

(east), *

Po plain The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...

between

and

Ivrea Ivrea (; pms, Ivrèja ; ; lat, Eporedia) 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 stradd ...

(south), *

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 Δουρι ...

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 SOIUSA code is the code used in the International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps (ISMSA or SOIUSA), a proposal by Italian Alpinist, Sergio Marazzi, to re-categorize the mountains and mountain ranges of the Alps. The proposal has bee ...

): * Catena Tre Vescovi -

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

(''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 and Cervo valleys and is totally included in the province of Biella. It is divided between the ...

- 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 Bocchetta del Croso is a pedestrian pass (el. 1,943 m) across the Alpi Biellesi. It connects Cervo valley ( BI) and Valsesia ( VC), both in Piemonte (Italy) . Etymology In the local dialect ''croso'' means '' gully'', ''small valley'', ...

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 The Alpine foothills, or Prealps (german: Voralpen; french: Préalpes; it, Prealpi; ), may refer generally to any foothills at the base of the Alps in Europe. They are the transition zone between the High Alps and the Swiss Plateau and the Bavar ...

'' 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 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 usually used when referring ...

and the

European plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

, 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 () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

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 ...

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 Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping), w ...

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

Scopello __NOTOC__ The Commune of Scopello (Italian: ''Comune di Scopello''; population about 450) is located in the Valsesia region of the Italian Pennine Alps, in the Piedmontese Province of Vercelli. The municipality covers an area of and ranges in e ...

) 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 where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

with more than 30 km of maintained trails starting from

Bocchetto Sessera Bocchetto Sessera or Bocchetto di Sessera is a mountain pass (el. 1,373 m) across the Alpi Biellesi. It connects Strona di Mosso Valley and Valsessera, both in the province of Biella (Piemonte, Italy) . Etymology In the local dialect ...

(1,373 m).

Hiking and climbing

Many

climbing route A climbing route is a path by which a climber reaches the top of a mountain, rock, or ice wall. Routes can vary dramatically in difficulty and grade; once committed to that ascent, it can sometimes be difficult to stop or return. Choice of rout ...

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. Her statue is located in the Sanctuary of Oropa, the basilica of the Sacro Monte di Oropa, one of the Sacri Monti. It ...

. 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 hut A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization d ...

s: 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. Overvie ...

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

, 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