Land deep in a forest on the border of Italy and Austria, and you’ll discover an otherworldly range of clay structures that look like an army of pyramids, topped by little hats.
Also likened to organ pipes, the strange conical structures are almost 200 years old and the natural result of a huge storm that raged in the Val Pusteria valley, above the village of Perca in South Tyrol.
According to local accounts, the Rio Terento swept away many buildings and washed away rocks and stones covering hillsides, triggering the formation of the “Earth Pyramids.” Growing out of underlying mud and stones, the raw material of which the jutting columns are made is moraine clay, dating from the late ice age….