Increasing mineralogical and textural evidence from podiform chromitites in ophiolites suggests their ultra-highpressure origin (>150 km), challenging conventional models for their formation under low-pressure conditions (<60 km) in theupper mantle. However, this challenge remains controversial due to a lack of in situ mineralogical evidence. Here, we reportnew data and observations from the Skenderbeu massif in the Mirdita ophiolite, Albania. Transmission electron microscopyshows that these chromitites (Cr# = 41.8–43.2) have numerous exsolution lamellae of diopsidic clinopyroxene andorthoenstatite. These lamellae have a crystallographic topotaxy relationship with the host chromite, i.e. (020)Cpx ∥ (2 20)Chr,( 200)Cpx ∥ (111)Chr and (010)Opx∥ (2 20)Chr, (200)Opx ∥ (2 20)Chr, indicating an exsolution origin. The abundant presence ofpyroxene exsolution lamellae in the centre of the host chromites implies the incorporation of Si4+ and Ca2+ cations in theprecursor chromite, a CaFe2O4-structured high-pressure polymorph that is stable at >12.5 GPa (i.e. 380 km deep). These in situnanoscale observations and their geological occurrence, together with previously discovered ophiolitic diamonds in the Mirditaophiolite, suggest a much deeper origin for ophiolitic chromitites than conventional interpretations and provide a valuableopportunity to understand the composition of the deep mantle.