The garnet group is one of the most interesting and controversial of the mineral kingdom. Scientists cannot agree on a lot of aspects, to the point that they can't even agree on the number of species (some say there are fifteen, other say sixteen, some even more) or the number of varieties. The almandine species was probably the one first known to Man. Specimens on matrix, slightly touched up by the locals, coming from this Italian region or from Otztal (Austria) are quite well-known. Garnets can be of a considerable size (more than 5 cm) and appear in metamorphic schists. According to some studies, their growth was so slow that they needed more than thirty million years to reach a size of 1 cm.