Cime du Mercantour, Mountain summit in the Mercantour-Argentera massif, Alpes-Maritimes, France and Piedmont, Italy

Cime du Mercantour is a secondary border summit of the Mercantour-Argentera massif, rising to 2,251 metres between the Vésubie valley in the Alpes-Maritimes and Piedmont. Its upper ridge is bare dark grey and brown rock broken into crags and slabs, with pale grey and tan scree below and larger outcrops on the left flank. The crest narrows to a single high point, and the slopes fall away on both sides.

Cartographers long mistook the Cime du Mercantour for the higher Mont Argentera, the massif's highest point, so the summit gave its name to the massif, to the national hunting reserve created in 1953 and to the national park created in 1979. The name Mercantour is first attested in the late 17th century; its origin remains debated.

The name Mercantour is attested from the late 17th century, and its origin remains debated: Frédéric Mistral derived it from the old Provençal Mercantorn, from merca/marca (to mark) and entorn (surroundings), while Jacques Lacroix proposed a Gaulish Maro-canto, the "great border". Local people call the place lou Marcantouà, and popular memory links the name to the Roman general Marc Antony.

The normal route climbs from the French side, starting at the Boréon, an affluent of the Vésubie: head for the col de Cerise, branch off toward the lac du Mercantour, then follow the grassy slopes to the summit. The Italian valley and its peaks open up from the top. Allow a full day and carry water and warm layers.

The name Mercantour long designated the massif's highest point: cartographers confused this summit with the higher Mont Argentera, so it gave its name to the massif, to the national hunting reserve created in 1953 and to the national park created in 1979. The summit nonetheless holds a central position in the massif.