The Bergamasque Prealps () are a mountain range within 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 ...

. The range is located in

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, in the north of

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 ...

Geography

Administratively the range belongs to the

Italian province The provinces of Italy ( it, province d'Italia) are the second-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, on an intermediate level between a municipality () and a region (). Since 2015, provinces have been classified as "institutio ...

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

and, to a lesser extent, to the

provinces 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 outsi ...

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label=Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

and

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

. The western slopes of the mountains are drained by the Adda, the central and eastern part of the range by

Oglio The Oglio (; Latin ''Ollius'', or ''Olius''; Lombard ''Òi''; Cremonese ''Ùi'') is a left-side tributary of the river Po in Lombardy, Italy. It is long. In the hierarchy of the Po's tributaries, with its of length, it occupies the 2nd pla ...

and other minor rivers and streams, all of them

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

of the Po.

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 subsection, classified in the following way: * main part =

Eastern Alps Eastern Alps is the name given to the eastern half of the Alps, usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the ...

* major sector =

Southern Limestone Alps The Southern Limestone Alps ( it, Alpi Sud-orientali, german: Südliche Kalkalpen), also called the Southern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps south of the Central Eastern Alps mainly located in northern Italy and the adjacen ...

* section =

Bergamasque Alps and Prealps The Bergamasque Alps and Prealps (''Alpi e Prealpi Bergamasche'' in Italian) are a mountain range in the southern part of the Alps. They are located in Lombardy, in the northern part of Italy. Geography Administratively the range belongs to the ...

* subsection = Bergamasque Prealps *

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 ...

= II/C-29.II

Borders

The Bergamo Prealps stretch between

Lake Como Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...

(west) and

Lake Iseo Lake Iseo or Iseo lake ( ; it, Lago d'Iseo ; lmo, Lach d'Izé, label=Eastern Lombard), also known as Sebino (; la, Sebinus), is the fourth largest lake in Lombardy, Italy, fed by the Oglio River. It is in the north of the country in the Val ...

(east). They are separated from the

Bergamo Alps The Bergamasque Alps or Bergamo Alps (Italian: ''Alpi Orobie'', sometimes translated into English as Orobic Alps) are a mountain range in the Italian Alps. They are located in northern Lombardy and named after the city Bergamo, south of the mo ...

(north) by some secondary valleys of

Val Brembana Val Brembana is a valley in Lombardy, northern Italy. It takes its name from the river crossing it, the Brembo. Geography The Bergamo Alps form the valley's northern limits, notably the Tre Signori and Diavolo di Tenda Peaks, while at south ...

Val Seriana The Serio ( Lombard: ''Sère'') is an Italian river that flows entirely within Lombardy, crossing the provinces of Bergamo and Cremona. It is long and flows into the Adda at Bocca di Serio south of Crema Crema or Cremas may refer to: ...

and

Val Camonica Val Camonica (also ''Valcamonica'' or Camonica Valley, Eastern Lombard: ''Al Camònega'') is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, in eastern Lombardy, Italy. It extends about from the Tonale Pass to Corna Trentapassi, in the ...

Valsassina 250px, The Valsassina plateau. Valsassina is a valley in the Alps of Lombardy, northern Italy, within the province of Lecco. It is included between the Grigne range from West, and the Bergamo Prealps which, in a half-circle stretching from North ...

, Valtorta, Val Secca, Valcanale, Val Nembo, Val di Scalve and Val Paisco. Towards south they end with the

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 ...

Subdivision

The Bergamasque Prealps are subdivided into three supergroups: * Catena Campelli-Resegone-Grigne (or ''Prealpi Bergamasche Occidentali'') -

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 ...

: II/C-29.II-A, * Catena Arera-Alben (or ''Prealpi Bergamasche Centrali'') -

: II/C-29.II-B, * Catena Presolana-Pora-Concarena (or ''Prealpi Bergamasche Orientali'') -

: II/C-29.II-C.

Notable summits

Some notable summits of the range are:

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

References

{{Reflist Mountain ranges of the Alps Mountain ranges of Lombardy Province of Brescia Province of Bergamo Province of Lecco