The Pyramids of Segonzano are probably the most famous attraction of the Cembra Valley.
These are large structures, made by erosion, usually shaped as “thin” truncated cones (they remind me the spires of a gothic church), but often more similar to blades, crests and ridges; the tallest ones reach 20 metres (65 feet.)
Sometimes they're called earth pyramids, even if they're actually made of various sediments (very fine soil together with stones of different sizes.)
Many of the dei pinnacles are covered by a big protection rock. Just the shape of this “hat” has a crucial importance in the formation and preservation of the structure: if the rock is flat-shaped and slightly tilted, it will effectively defend from the rain the sediments under it, causing that a pyramid is made, and it will protect them from the erosion for a long time.
The Cembrans call affectionately the pyramids with hat as “i òmeni de Segonzàn” (that is the men of Segonzano).
Most of the formations are in the vicinity of the Rio Regnana brook, in the municipality of Segonzano, but in the past there were much more of them and they were present in other zones too. The picture below, taken from page 36 of Storia di Lona Lases, shows a little pyramid front in the municipality of Lona in 1928 (today is a reafforested area):
In the ancient times, being the people pressed by more serious problems, the interest on this wonder wasn't exceptional indeed (to use an understatement). Elio Antonelli says: «The pyramids of Segonzano aren't directly mentioned in any documents of the local archives. There are marginal references when speaking about some accident in the upper Caiàna Valley.
Not even the local government was actively interested on them; on the contrary, in the session held on March 5th 1893, when the Captaincy of Trent asked «a contribution for the repair of the pyramids», answered that, «seeing that there is no benefit for the town from the existence of those pyramids», they couldn't and refused to undertake to do the future maintenance works. […]» (Segonzano e Sevignano page 28 [quote translated by me])
Singular shot of one of the tallest pyramids of the second group
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According a popular legend, in time immemorial there were elves that dwelt in the zone by the Rio Regnana brook, but ran about through the forests of the valley showing low respect for the nature.
A day, as a punishment, they were petrified by the divine forces, giving rise to these weird columns.
I wish it could happen also to some modern tourists!
The pyramids with hat, although not eternal, resist several hundreds years. But they are very sensitive to the earthquakes: their structure is actually solid and elastic enough to hold out even against seisms of fairly high magnitude, but the movement caused by the shakes often cause that the protection rock falls, sentencing the spire to a progressive and unavoidable erosion.
A pyramid without hat is usually consumed by the weather in a period shorter than one century. The last important earthquake recorded in the valley is the devastating one which hit the Friuli region on May 6th 1976: in the Cembra Valley it was felt with magnitude equal to the 5th degree of the Mercalli scale (4.8 of the Richter scale). Since than, the height of the pyramids “uncovered” by it has decreased at a rate of one metre (one yard) every five or six years.
It's yet possible that there are other stones incorporated in the pyramid “stalk”: if one of these, exposed by the erosion, has a suitable shape and size, it will become its new hat.
It could be a controversial issue if a rock is happy to receive the honour to be at the top of the pyramid or if it would rather be sheltered from rain and wind: maybe, like people, there are stones with different preferences…
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