SOIUSA


SOIUSA is a classification system of the Alps from the geographic and toponomastic point of view.
It was designed by Sergio Marazzi, Italian researcher and author of the Orographic Atlas of the Alps SOIUSA. His book was presented with the patronage of the Italian Alpine Club on 23 Jan 2006, but has yet to receive any formal acceptance.

History

The SOIUSA is an interpretation by Marazzi of the terrain of the Alps aiming to replace the traditional way the Alps were partitioned in Italy, the Partizione delle Alpi, which was adopted in 1926 by the Italian National Geographic Committee after the IX Italian Geographic Congress.
SOIUSA takes into account the European geographic literature normalizing and standardizing the different national classification systems in use. It was publicly presented in a lecture organized by the Italian Alpine Club's Milan conference on 6 April 2006, following the publication of Marazzi's book.

Structure

The SOIUSA introduces the bipartition of the Alpine System replacing the old tripartite division by a multilevel pyramidal hierarchy according to identical scales and rules.
Mountain groups higher level:
fractionated with morphological and altimetric benchmark taking into account the historical and geographical regions in the Alps.
Mountain groups lower level:
divided with a benchmark mountaineering.
  • 333 supergroups .
  • 870 groups .
  • 1625 subgroups .
Relative sectors intermediate to the groups above are also defined:
  • 31 sectors of sections
  • 30 sectors of subsections
  • 18 sectors of supergroups
  • 7 sectors of groups
  • 409 sectors of subgroups
To any alpine mountain can be assigned a SOIUSA code, which shows to what part, sector, section, subsection, supergroup, group and subgroup the mountain belongs.
Example:

Naming

Names of higher level groups are given in the four main languages spoken in the Alps and in English, while lower level groups are just named in the language/languages of the concerned country/countries.
Examples:

Western Alps

From the line Savona - Bocchetta di Altare - Montezemolo - Mondovì to the line Rhine - Splügen Pass - Lake Como - Lake Lecco; they are divided in 14 sections.

Southwestern Alps

  • 1. Ligurian Alps
  • 2. Maritime Alps
  • 3. Provence Alps and Prealps
  • 4. Cottian Alps
  • 5. Dauphiné Alps
  • 6. Dauphiné Prealps

    Northwestern Alps

  • 7. Graian Alps
  • 8. Savoy Prealps
  • 9. Pennine Alps
  • 10. Lepontine Alps
  • 11. Lugano Prealps
  • 12. Bernese Alps i.t.w.m.
  • 13. Glarus Alps i.t.w.m.
  • 14. Swiss Prealps

    Eastern Alps

From the line Rhine - Splügen Pass - Lake Como - Lake Lecco to the line Vienna-Sopron-Köszeg-Graz-Maribor and Godovič Pass; they are divided in 22 sections.

Central-eastern Alps

  • 15. Western Rhaetian Alps
  • 16. Eastern Rhaetian Alps
  • 17 Western Tauern Alps
  • 18. Eastern Tauern Alps
  • 19. Carinthian-Styrian Alps
  • 20. Styrian Prealps

    Northeastern Alps

  • 21. North Tyrol Limestone Alps
  • 22. Bavarian Alps
  • 23. Tyrol Schistose Alps
  • 24. Northern Salzburg Alps
  • 25. Salzkammergut and Upper Austria Alps
  • 26. Northern Styrian Alps
  • 27. Northern Lower Austria Alps

    Southeastern Alps

  • 28. Southern Rhaetian Alps
  • 29. Bergamasque Alps and Prealps
  • 30. Brescia and Garda Prealps
  • 31. Dolomites
  • 32. Venetian Prealps
  • 33. Carnic and Gailtal Alps
  • 34. Julian Alps and Prealps
  • 35. Carinthian-Slovenian Alps
  • 36. Slovenian Prealps