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VALTELLINA (Ger. Veltlin; the name co...

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 867 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VALTELLINA (Ger. Veltlin; the name comes from the former See also:capital, Teglio, near Tresenda) , properly the name of the upper valley of See also:Adda, in See also:north See also:Italy. Historically and officially, it also comprises the See also:Italian Liro or See also:San Giacomo valley, which extends from the Spliigen Pass past See also:Chiavenna (where the Liro is absorbed by the Mera, flowing from the Swiss Val Bregaglia) to the See also:Lake of See also:Como, the Mera entering this lake slightly to the north of the Adda. These two valleys (but not Colico, which is in the See also:province of Como) See also:form together the province of See also:Sondrio. Pop. 145,265 (exclusive of Colico) or 122,466 (omitting Chiavenna). Politically the whole- valley belongs to the See also:kingdom of Italy, except the See also:side valley of Poschiavo (Puschlav), which belongs to the Swiss See also:canton of the See also:Grisons (Graubunden). The See also:chief See also:town is Sondrio (7172), other important places being Tirano (5870), Chiavenna (4592) and Morbegno (3603). Near See also:Bormio (Ger. See also:Worms) there are some frequented See also:mineral springs (See also:sulphur and See also:lime), known in See also:Pliny's See also:time, and efficacious in diseases of the skin. There are several other See also:baths in the side valleys, such as See also:Santa Caterina (chalybeate), Masino and Le Prese (sulphur). The highest points in the ranges enclosing the valley are the Piz "Lupo (13,131 ft.) in the Bernina See also:group and the Konigsspitze (12,655 ft.) in the See also:Ortler See also:district; the See also:Monte della Disgrazia (12,067 ft.) is the highest See also:peak comprised entirely within the See also:water-See also:basin of the valley.

Four well-marked Alpine passes are traversed by See also:

good See also:carriage-roads—the Stelvio Pass or Stilfserjoch (9055 ft., the highest carriage-road in See also:Europe) from Bormio to See also:Meran in the See also:Adige valley, the Bernina Pass (7645 ft.) from Tirano to Samaden in the Upper See also:Engadine, and the Aprica Pass(3875ft.) from Tirano to the Val Camonica and the Lake of See also:Iseo, while from near the See also:top of the Stelvio a See also:fourth road leads over the Umbrail Pass (8242 ft., the highest in See also:Switzerland) to the Swiss valley of See also:Munster, which is reached at the See also:village of Santa Maria. The See also:main valley is traversed from end to end by a magnificent carriage-road constructed by the See also:Austrian See also:Government in 182o-1825. A railway runs from Colico, on the Lake of Como, past Sondrio to Tirano, a distance of 42 m., while there is another from Colico to Chiavenna (161 m.). The See also:population is wholly Italian-speaking and See also:Roman See also:Catholic, the valley being in the See also:diocese of Como. The See also:shrine of the Madonna of Tirano (founded 152o)annually attracts a large number of pilgrims. The valley, particularly in its See also:lower portion, is extremely fertile; and of See also:late years vigorous See also:measures have been taken to prevent the damage caused by the frequent inundations of the Adda. Chestnuts, vines, mulberry trees and fig trees abound; and there are many picturesquely situated churches, castles and villages. The chief articles exported are See also:wine and See also:honey. The wine is largely consumed in north Italy and Switzerland, the best varieties being Grumello, Sassella and Montagna. Large quantities of honey are annually sent abroad. See also:History.—The See also:political history of Valtellina is made up of the histories of three districts—(1) the " See also:free community " of Poschiavo (first mentioned as such in 1200-1201); (2) the See also:county of Bormio (first mentioned as a county in 1347); and (3) Valtellina proper, extending from the See also:defile of the Serra di Morignone on the See also:east to the Lake of Como on the See also:west. After the defeat of the See also:Lombards (774) these three districts were given (775) by See also:Charlemagne to the See also:abbey of St See also:Denis near See also:Paris, which never seems to have exercised its rights.

In 824 See also:

Lothair I., confirming an earlier donation (803) made by Charlemagne, gave the churches of Poschiavo and Bormio to the See also:bishop of Como. Bormio was in r205 won by the men of Como, who in roo6 had received one-See also:half of Valtellina from the See also:emperor, and by 1114 they were masters of the entire valley. They retained Bormio till 1300, when it freed itself; but in 1336 it belonged to the bishop of Chur. In 1335 the See also:Visconti, lords (later See also:dukes) of See also:Milan, became lords of Como, and therefore of Valtellina. In 1350 they seized on Bormio and Poschiavo, the latter being won back by the bishop of Chur in 1394, and again lost to the Visconti in 1470. As See also:early as 136o the men of Rhaetia made incursions into Valtellina under the pretext that it had formed See also:part of See also:ancient Rhaetia. This See also:idea was confirmed in 1404, when, in return for See also:kind treatment received during his See also:exile, Mastino Visconti (son of Barnabo) gave to the bishop of Chur his See also:share of the Milanese, including Poschiavo, Bormio and Valtellina. Relying on this donation, the men of the Three Leagues of Rhaetia (best known by the name of one, Graubunden) invaded the valley in 1486-1487, Poschiavo becoming in 1486 permanently a member (not a subject See also:land) of the Gotteshausbund. This donation served too as the excuse for seizing, in 1512, on Chiavenna, Bormio and Valtellina, which were harshly ruled as " subject bailiwicks." Under the See also:governor at Sondrio there were four " podestas " for the three divisions of Valtellina (Morbegno and Traona, Sondrio and Tirano), besides one at Teglio and one at Bormio. Mastino Visconti's donation was solemnly confirmed in 1516 by the emperor See also:Maximilian I. In 1530 the bishop of Chur was forced to sell to the Three Leagues for a small sum his See also:title to these two districts. At the time of the See also:Reformation Poschiavo became See also:Protestant.

The other two districts clung to the old faith and came under the See also:

influence of Carlo See also:Borromeo, who, when See also:founding in 1579 his " Collegium Helveticum " at Milan for Swiss students for the priesthood, reserved for Valtellina six out of the See also:forty-two places. Valtellina was extremely important to the Habsburgs as affording the See also:direct route between their possessions of the Milanese and See also:Tirol. Hence a See also:great struggle, into which religious questions and See also:bribery largely entered, took See also:place between See also:Austria and See also:Spain on one side and See also:France and See also:Venice on the other. In r603 Fuentes, the See also:Spanish governor of the Milanese, built a fortress (of which traces still remain) See also:close to the Lake of Como, and at the entrance to the valley, in See also:order to overawe it. The religious conflicts in Graubunden led to See also:reprisals in the " subject land " of Valtellina. In 1620 (r9th See also:July-4th See also:August)the Spanish and Romanist See also:faction (headed by the Planta See also:family) massacred a great number of Protestants in the valley, 350 to 60o according to different accounts (Veltliner Mord). For the next twenty years the valley was the See also:scene of great strife, being held by the Spaniards (1621-23, 1629-31, 1637-39), by the See also:French (1624-27, 1635-37), and by the See also:pope (1623, 1627). At length See also:George See also:Jenatsch, a former pastor, who had been the active and unscrupulous See also:leader of the Protestant party, became a Rom ist (1635) in order to free the land from the French by aid of tie Spaniards (1637), who finally (1639) gave it back to its old masters on See also:condition that the Protestants were excluded from the valley. In this way the See also:local struggles of Valtellina came to be mixed up with the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War. In 1797 Bormio and Valtellina were annexed to the Cisalpine See also:republic, in 1805 to the kingdom of Italy (of which See also:Napoleon was See also:king), and in 1815 (despite the remonstrances of the Raetian leagues) to the kingdom of See also:Lombardo-See also:Venetia, held by the emperor of Austria. In 1859 they became, like the See also:rest of See also:Lombardy, part of the kingdom of See also:united Italy. Poschiavo followed the fortunes of the " Gotteshausbund." It became (after 1798) part of the canton See also:Raetia of the Helvetic republic, and in 1803 of the canton of the Graubunden or Grisons, which was then first received a full member of the Swiss See also:Confederation.

See G. Leonhardi, Das Veltlin (1859) and Das Poschiavinothal (1860); Romegialli, Storia della Valtellina (1834-39, 5 vols.); C. von See also:

Moor, Geschichte von Curratien (1870–74) ; P. C. von Planta, See also:Die curratischen IZerrschaften in der Feudalzeit (1881); W. See also:Coxe, Travels in Switzerland, &c. (4th ed., 1801 ; Letters 74–78) ; G. B. Crollalanza, Storia del Contado di Chiavenna (Milan, 1870) ; D.. W. Freshfield, Italian See also:Alps (See also:London, 1875) ; Edmondo Brusoni, Guides della Valtellina (Sondrio, 1906); A. Giussani, Il Forte di Fuentes (Como, 1905) ; P. A. Lavizari, Storia See also:delta Valtellina (2 vols., Capolago (See also:Tessin), 1838) .

A. Lorria and E. A. Martel, Le See also:

Massif de la Bernina (See also:Zurich, 1894); E. Rott, See also:Henri IV., See also:les Suisses, et la Haute Belie—la Lutte pour les Alpes, 1598–16ro (Paris, 1882); E. Rott, Histoire de la See also:representation diplomatique de la France aupres See also:des cantons Suisses (See also:Bern; vols. iii. (1906) and iv. relate to the French in the Valtellina from 162o sqq.) ; E. Haffter, Georg Jenatsch (See also:Davos, 1894) ; F. Pieth, Die Feldzuge des Herzogs See also:Rohan See also:im Veltlin and in Grautru.nden (Bern, 1905); F. Fossati, Codice Diplomatico della Rezia (originally published in the Periodico of the Society Storica a Comense at Como; See also:separate reprint, Como, 1901); L. von See also:Ranke, History of the Popes, bk. vii.; and H. Reinhardt, Das Veltliner Mord," in eschichtsfreund (vol. xl., 1885).

End of Article: VALTELLINA (Ger. Veltlin; the name comes from the former capital, Teglio, near Tresenda)

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