Pizzo d'Erna, Mountain summit in Lombardy, Italy
Pizzo d'Erna is a mountain summit in Lombardy that rises to 1375 meters, with steep limestone cliffs and expansive meadows across its slopes. The terrain offers varied landscapes on the northern and southern sides, each with its own character and pathways to the top.
During World War II, after the armistice of 8 September 1943, armed opposition groups formed at the Piani d'Erna. Between 16 and 17 October 1943, three thousand Alpenjäger with artillery occupied the Valsassina; on the afternoon of 18 October, German SS occupied the four slopes of the Pizzo d'Erna, looting and burning huts and haylofts and damaging the Piani d'Erna refuges with artillery.
The name Erna likely comes from the Latin vernus, meaning springlike, for pastures used in spring, or from a Celtic word for a place rich in alders. The northern hollow below the summit is called the cadrega, "chair" in Lombard, after its shape. The Rifugio Antonio Stoppani stands at 890 m and the Rifugio Marchett at 1256 m.
The cable car leaves from Versasio, a locality of Lecco, and reaches the Piani d'Erna plateau at the summit; it was rebuilt and reopened in summer 2008. From the top station, a path leads to the highest point of Pizzo d'Erna, a spur jutting west. Other trails climb from Malnago and the southern and north-western slopes.
The summit is a spur jutting west from the northwestern slopes of Monte Resegone, reached by a path from the top station of the Piani d'Erna cable car; the Via Ferrata Gamma 1 climbs the western spur directly to the top. The northern side borders a prehistoric landslide hollow called the Cadrega, "chair" in Lombard.
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