The Alpi Cusiane (or ''Prealpi Cusiane'') 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 in

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

(

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 ...

Etymology

''Alpi Cusiane'' literally means ''Alps of Cusio''; ''Cusio'' is the geographical and historical area surrounding Lake of Orta, nowadays part of the

province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (Italian: ''Provincia del Verbano Cusio Ossola'' ) is the northernmost province in the Italian region of Piedmont. It was created in 1992 through the fusion of three geographical areas which had previously been part of the ...

Geography

Administratively the westernmost part of the range belongs to 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 out ...

, the southern part to

province of Novara Novara (It. ''Provincia di Novara'') is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Novara. In 1992, the new Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola was created through the fusion of three geographical areas which had prev ...

and the eastern and central ones to

Borders

Borders of the Alpi Cusiane are (clockwise): *

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- ...

, Mastallone creek, Tesslu pass, Strona creek,

Gravellona Toce Gravellona Toce () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about west of Verbania Verbania (, , ) is the most populous ''comune'' (municipalit ...

(north), *

Lago Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; it, Lago Maggiore ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh Maggior; pms, Lagh Magior; literally 'Greater Lake') or Verbano (; la, Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest la ...

(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 Arona and

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 ...

(south), *

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

(west).

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 Cusiane * code = I/B-9.IV-B

Subdivision

The Alpi Cusiane are divided into two Alpine groups, none 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 b ...

): * costiera Capio-Massa del Turlo ('' I/B-9.IV-B.1'') * massiccio del Mottarone ('' I/B-9.IV-B.2'') These two groups are connected by a low

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not k ...

not faraway from Gozzano.

Geology

From the geological point of view the Alpi Cusiane are considered part of the Prealpine zone, divided from 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, macros ...

zone of the Alps by the Insubric line. This important geologic fault 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. Hills and mountains located south-east of the line, like the Alpi Cusiane, can be considered part of southern Apulian foreland.

Notable summits

Winter sports

In the Alpi Cusiane is located the

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 Nort ...

Mottarone Mottarone is a mountain in the Western Alps of Piedmont, north-western Italy, with an elevation of 1,492 m. It is located between the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and that of Novara. Geography The peak is in the communal territory o ...

, with 21 km of downhill skiing slopes; it's connected with

Stresa Stresa is a town and ''comune'' of about 4,600 residents on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, about northwest of Milan. It is situated on road and rail routes to the Simp ...

by a

cableway Cable transport is a broad class of transport modes that have cables. They transport passengers and goods, often in vehicles called cable cars. The cable may be driven or passive, and items may be moved by pulling, sliding, sailing, or by driv ...

.''Le piste del Mottarone'', web page on
www.mottaroneski.it
(accessed on March 2012)

References

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
* I.G.C. (''Istituto Geografico Centrale'') - Carta dei sentieri e dei rifugi scala 1:50.000 n. 12 ''Laghi Maggiore d'Orta e di Varese''

External links

www.mottarone.it
{{Portal, Italy, Mountains Mountain ranges of Italy Mountain ranges of Piedmont Pennine Alps