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The oronym Pizzòc derives from pits to which the diminutive suffix -òc gives the meaning of ‘small point ‘. With its altitude of 1,525m it is the highest mountain in the Municipality of Fregona.
From its top, on clear days, towards the south you can enjoy an outstanding and wide panorama that goes from the Euganean Hills to the lagoons, from the Friulian plain to the Gulf of Trieste and Istria; to the north, instead, you can see the Alpago mountains and the Venetian Dolomites; to the east, the Forest and the Piana del Cansiglio, the Cavallo group; to the west the Col Visentin, the Vallata and the lakes of Tarzo and Revine. The top, called Piazza della Pace (the highest square in Europe), still shows the signs left by the calcium carbonate quarry (dismissed and then moved half way up the mountain, in the locality of Le Jére, which, however, in the 1950s, ruined downstream with the whole establishment); the pylons of the cable car that transported the material to the Italcementi, cement factory of Vittorio Veneto, are still clearly visible.
From its top, on clear days, towards the south you can enjoy an outstanding and wide panorama that goes from the Euganean Hills to the lagoons, from the Friulian plain to the Gulf of Trieste and Istria; to the north, instead, you can see the Alpago mountains and the Venetian Dolomites; to the east, the Forest and the Piana del Cansiglio, the Cavallo group; to the west the Col Visentin, the Vallata and the lakes of Tarzo and Revine. The top, called Piazza della Pace (the highest square in Europe), still shows the signs left by the calcium carbonate quarry (dismissed and then moved half way up the mountain, in the locality of Le Jére, which, however, in the 1950s, ruined downstream with the whole establishment); the pylons of the cable car that transported the material to the Italcementi, cement factory of Vittorio Veneto, are still clearly visible.
During the Cold War it hosted a radar base of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), directly connected to the Pian-Cansiglio missile base. Facing the plain, stands the Città di Vittorio Veneto hut, which before its restoration was known as Baracón as it housed the quarry workers; during the Second World War it was also the headquarters of the “Fratelli Cairoli” partisan brigade.
The hiking trails that go up the southern side of the mountain (that of Còl de Fedèra-Agnelezza and that of the Mandre, called ‘Direttissima’; toponyms of evident pastoral origin) offer an amazing landscape and vegetation of surprising variety (from Hazelnut to Walnut and Chestnut, from Ash to Hornbeam and Beech, from Fir to Larch, from Field Maple to many shrub species).
The summit of the mountain on the southern side, on the other hand, has reforested Spruce and Black Pine; in the pastures isolated specimens of Beech, mountain Ash (especially near the huts), Sycamore Maple, Juniper.
The floristic aspects are much more interesting, in fact Gentian with welded anthers is widespread; of great interest are also the saxifrages such as the Saxifrage of Host, of Burser, of the Dolomites, encrusted. Among many other species there are also the Carniola Lily, the “Senecione Mezzano”, the Edelweiss, the “Pulsatilla alpina”, the “Peonia selvatica”, the “Veratro Nero”, the “Asfodelo montano”, the “Cumino”, the “Giaggiolo del Cengio”, the “Spirea cuneata”, the “Napello”, the “Rododendro cistino”, the “Carlina” …
Among the mammals you can especially spot the Alpine hare, the Roe deer, the Weasel. Among the birds you can see the European honey buzzard, the black and red kite, the peregrine falcon, the rare capercaillie, the black grouse (whose nuptial dance can be admired), the hooded crow, the hawfinch, the Dunnock, the Coal Tit. In Pizzoc, considered one of the main avian corridors in the North-East with the Cansiglio, an important bird ringing station has been active for years, which can count as many as a hundred species per season.
Not only for the people of Fregona, due to its peculiar characteristics the mountain also acts as a meteorological indicator: “Se l’à la zhintùra, no ’l dùra” If it shows the ring of clouds, good weather does not last; “Se l’à ’l penàzh, pióva a s’cìh e s’ciàch” If it has a plume, rain pours; “Se l’à ’l capèl, al farà bèl” If it has a hat, it will be beautiful.
