Walking through the Tethys in the Monviso Ophiolite (Piemonte, Italy).

The Monviso Ophiolite (MO) in the Italian Western Alps is one of the best known relics of oceanic crust in the orogen. Moreover, it is one of the strategic areas chosen to represent the geodiversity of Piemonte Region (Rolfo et al. 2014). The MO gives the chance to see and appreciate different portions of the ancient ocean along a relatively short mountain trail; from the Po river springs at Pian del Re, a path from 2000 m up to about 2350 m a.s.l. shows all different ophiolitic lithologies - modified after the Alpine evolution - within few kilometers.