Sundial of Sesto

Contrary to what you might think, the Sundial of Sesto (Meridiana di Sesto in Italian) is not a wall painting on a house faҫade but a natural monument composed of five peaks around Sesto: the Cima Nove, Cima Dieci (also known as Croda Rossa di Sesto), Cima Undici, Cima Dodici and Cima Una.

The Cima Nove, the lowest summit (2,582 m a.s.l.) of the sundial is subdivided into different sedimentary layers which can be recognised even from far. The Cima Dieci, better known as Croda Rossa di Sesto (2,965 m a.s.l.) is the easternmost mountain of the Sesto Dolomites. Its first ascent, along with that of the neighbouring mountains dates back to 1878 and was achieved by Michel Innerkofler and Roland von Eötvös.

The Cima Undici (3,068 m a.s.l.) is the main summit of the Undici group and reveals numerous findings of soldiers who fought here during World War I. The Cima Dodici with its main peak (2,917 m a.s.l.) rises right at the border to the province of Belluno. In 2007 the Cima Una gained international fame because of a huge rockfall. On this occasion 60,000 m³ of rocks fell down from this peak. The traces of this catastrophic event are still well-visible on its rock wall.

How does this sundial actually work? If you observe it from Moso, the aforementioned mountains align perfectly with the position of the sun. During the winter solstice the sun is positioned right above the Cima Dodici (literally twelve peak) at 12 pm. At 1 pm it aligns with Cima Una (literally Peak One). The same principle applies to the Cima Dieci and Undici peaks (literally ten and eleven), however, the alignment is not visible from Moso. The formation acts as a true natural clock.

It is likely that the village of Sesto owes its name to the Romans who used the term sexta ora to denote the sixth hour. Given that their temporal subdivision was heavily different from our system the village's name probably derives from an ancient system of timekeeping.