The result of the necessity of finding a balance between needs and limitations has created a tendency to adapt that is possible to find surprisingly in different regions of the Alps. This is not the unaware fatalism of people that chose to live near the mouth of a volcano but an intuitive wise answer to extreme conditions. In ancient times, the mountain populations were careful not to dwell unfavourable places with climatic and hydrological problems. Actually, the slopes without enough insolation or with a high humidity level were called using toponyms related to the insolation shortage and they were occupied only in case there were no alternatives. In the same way, a slope characterized by hydrogeological instability or that was crossed by a turbulent river or stream often had a name that couldn’t make people have doubts about it.