Gran Paradiso
Italian for 'great paradise' — descriptive, but late: the name is first recorded in the 18th century and replaced the older local term la Gran Punta ('the great peak'). The peak's flanks were renowned for the royal hunting reserve below, and the modern name probably reflects 19th-century romantic-Alpine sensibility rather than any older tradition.
The only UIAA 4000m peak in the Graian Alps and the highest summit lying entirely within Italy.
The only 4000er entirely within Italy was first climbed on 4 September 1860 by an English party with Chamonix guides — a comparatively late first ascent explained by the mountain's protected status as a royal hunting reserve. King Victor Emmanuel II had reserved the surrounding valleys for ibex hunting since 1856; that reserve became Italy's first national park in 1922 and is the reason the ibex survives in the Alps at all. The voie normale from the Vittorio Emanuele hut is the easiest of any 4000er after the Breithorn.
Summit · huts that serve as bases for routes on this peak
- Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele II2,735 m