Il Cervino, completamente avvolto di mistero, si erge a 4.478 metri fra il Vallese ed il Piemonte. Che lo si osservi da Zermatt o dall'Italia, presenta un aspetto così caratteristico che è sempre riconoscibile.
La sua prima ascensione nel 1860 è rimasta celebre perché fu realizzata dal giovane incisore inglese Edward Whymper, il quale cinque anni più tardi doveva essere uno dei sopravvissuti del primo dramma del Cervino: la morte di quattro compagni di cordata dopo la loro vittoria sulle implacabili creste della vetta.
Gustave Dore explained the fall of these men, rushed from deep in the abyss of the Matterhorn glacier, 1500 feet below. In 1871 the peak was won by a woman, Lucy Walker, followed a few weeks later by the American Meta Brevoort, who crossed the mountains from side to side, up from Zermatt to Breuil and descending. Since then all the peaks of the Matterhorn were explored, including the diabolical north wall.
The name derives from the French in Italian "Cervin," which derives from the Latin "Mons Silvanus," that is wooded mountains. In fact, in past centuries, because of the milder climate that made possible, inter alia, the crossing of the Alpine hills during most of the year, This mountain was covered with forests.
This "Optimus" climate was the reason of the importance of Valle d'Aosta in the Roman era and the founding of Augusta Praetoria Salassorum (now Aosta). Following the process of corruption of the Latin, from "Silvanus" has reached "Servin" (pronounced "servèn"), in French. Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, who was among the first cartographers of the Kingdom of Sardinia, however, wrong in the transcript, recording the name "Cervin" in French is pronounced the same way. The Italian name is derived accordingly, pointing to an incorrect reference to deer.
is located in the Central Alps, on the watershed between Italy and Switzerland, along the Pennine Alps from which it stands isolated from the rest of the other peaks, overlooking the towns of Breuil-Cervinia in Italy and Zermatt in Switzerland.
has four main walls oriented to the cardinal points: the north face looks Zermatt in Switzerland, the east wall overlooking the Gorner glacier, the south wall above Breuil-Cervinia in Italy and the west wall is facing Dent Héréns . These walls are connected by many peaks: the south-west ridge that Cresta del Leone, and the northwest ridge that Zmutt Ridge, the North-East ridge that dell'Hörnli Ridge and the ridge south-east ridge that Furggen.
The summit consists of two distinct peaks connected by a thin edge of the ridge. The highest peak is called Cima Switzerland the lowest (only two meters) is called Cima Italian. The Swiss-Italian border instead follows the ridge itself, which coincides with the line of watershed, as enshrined in the Convention of 24 July 1941 between the Swiss Confederation and the Kingdom of Italy.
This convention establishes the principle of the watershed as a natural boundary line and indicate specifically in which case it abandons the criterion. The Matterhorn is not a member.
The two peaks are then shared between the two states.
After the first historic conquest of the Matterhorn was the scene of many businesses along the climbing walls and ridges. Among the others are worthy of note: Albert Mummery, 1879 - the first ascent of the ridge Zmutt (with guides Alexander Burgener, Augustin Gentinetta and Johann Petrus), Walter Bonatti, 1965 - the first winter ascent of the north wall (solo) and Hans Kammerlander, 1992 - climbing the four peaks in 24 hours. 
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