Alagna Valsesia

Alagna Valsesia ( Walser German Lannja or Im Land, in the Piedmontese dialect of Val Sesia Lagna ) is an Italian commune (comune) with 727 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) in the province of Vercelli in the Piedmont region . It is the holder of the Bandiera Arancione environmental and tourism quality label awarded by the Touring Club Italiano .

geography

Alagna is the uppermost municipality in Valsesia on the south side of the Monte Rosa massif at an altitude of 1205 m slm . Since 2019, after the incorporation of Riva Valdobbia , it occupies an area of 133.17 km²; that of the old Walser community Alagna was 72 km². The scattered settlement is located almost 100 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital Vercelli in the Alta Valsesia Nature Park.

Community structure

The municipality consists of 32 fractions , which are grouped around the four districts Centro, Oubna-um, Unna-hin and in Olter (it. Otro). The fractions of the district Centro are Zar Sogu (it. Resiga), Im Undre Grobe (it. Reale inferiore), Im Oubre Grobe (it. Reale superiore), Z'Jakmuls Hus (it. Casa Giacomolo), Z'Pudelenn (it Pedelegno), Zar Chilchu ( Italian Centro), In d'Bundu ( Italian Bonda), In d'Ekku (Italian Indeccu), In d'Stïtz ( Italian Stitz), Z'Purratz Hus ( Italian casa Porrazzo), Z'Juassis Hus (it. Casa Prati). To Otro . To Oubna-to include Fum Diss (it. Dosso), Fum d'Boudma (it. All Piane) In d'Wittine (it. Wittine) Fun d'Rùfinu (it. Rusa) In Garrai (it. Goreto ), In the Adelstodal (it. Montella). The fractions of Unna-hin are Zam Steg (it. Ponte), Z'Kantmud (it. Pedemonte), Im Rong (it. Ronco), Im Oubre Rong (it. Ronco superiore), Z'Uttershus (it. Uterio) , Z'San Niklòs (it. San Nicolao), Im Wold , In d'Mèrlette (it. Merletti). In Olter include Felleretsch, Follu, Tschukke, Dorf, Scarpia, Weng and Pianmisura .

On January 1, 2019, the southeastern municipality of Riva Valdobbia with its 20 fractions Balma, Boccorio, Buzzo, Cà di Ianzo, Cambiaveto, Cà Morca, Cà Piacentino, Cà Verno, Cà Vescovo, Gabbio, Isolello, La Montata, Oro, Peccia, Piana Fuseria, Piane, Rabernardo, Sant'Antonio, Selveglio and Vogna Sotto are incorporated so that the municipality of Alagna Valsesia has been made up of 53 fractions since 2019.

The patron saint of the four districts Centro, Oubna-um, Unna-hin and Olter is John the Baptist (Giovanni Battista) and for the incorporated Riva Valdobbia with its fractions, the Archangel Michael (San Michele).

Neighboring communities

Neighboring communities are Alto Sermenza (VC) and Gressoney-La-Trinité and Gressoney-Saint-Jean in the Aosta Valley , Macugnaga in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Zermatt in the Swiss canton of Valais .

History and language

Like Rima, Rimella and maybe Carcoforo , Alagna was settled by the Walsers in the 13th and 14th centuries . The local Alemannic dialect, certain traditions and the typical wooden buildings go back to them. A museum about village culture (open daily in summer and on weekends in winter) can be found in the Pedemonte fraction.

However, Walser German is only spoken by a minority in Alagna. According to a survey carried out by Maria Concetta di Paolo from the University of Pescara in 1996, 37 people out of a total of 443 residents had active and 23 passive dialect skills. In 1935, according to Pier Paolo Viazzo, of a total of 499 inhabitants, 292 still had active and 25 passive language skills; According to Karl Bohnenberger, 442 of the 632 inhabitants spoke German in the early 20th century. The local dialect is documented, apart from the linguistic atlas of German-speaking Switzerland , in particular in the following two works:

Giovanni Giordani : La colonia tedesca di Alagna-Valsesia e il suo dialetto. 2nd edition Varallo Sesia 1927 (reprinted several times).
Emil Balmer : The Walser in Piedmont. About the life and language of the German settlers behind Monte Rosa. Bern 1949.

A new dialect dictionary was published in 2008:

Sergio Maria Gilardino: I Walser e la loro lingua. Dal grande nord alle alpi. Dizionario della lingua walser di Alagna Valsesia. Centro Studi Zeisciu, Magenta 2008.

Economy and tourism

In the past, gold was mined in Alagna. At the end of the 19th century, the place gained important tourist importance due to its proximity to Monte Rosa and served as a valley location for climbing the peaks of the massif. Today the place is known for the many opportunities for mountaineering and winter sports .

Construction of the facilities at the Belvedere

In 1947, a detachable monocable gondola lift was built by the Piemonte Funivie company from the village center on a rock ledge above with the name Belvedere. The system was the first detachable gondola lift in the world and was characterized by an extremely steep route. The developed mountain is characterized by an impressive view of the Monte Rosa massif, from which it owes its name ("beautiful view"). A hotel was built next to the mountain station, but it later burned down. At the latest with the construction of a short drag lift and a chairlift by the Marchisio company, skiing was also possible since the 1950s . Since a serious accident in the early 1970s, in which a gondola slipped over the rope in the steep section and hit the following gondolas, all the facilities at the Belvedere have been idle.

Construction of the Punta Indren cable car

In the period from 1958 to 1965, a Ceretti e Tanfani aerial tramway was built in three sections to the 3260 m high Punta Indren under the direction of the engineer Giorgio Rolandi, who was born in the valley . The cable car opened up the rock ridge in the middle of glaciers, which is part of the southern flank of Monte Rosa, in three sections via the intermediate stations Zar Oltu (1800 m) and Bocchetta delle Pisse (2400 m). This facility was one of the most impressive railways in the Alps and, with its exposed, extremely long and very remote route, was an absolute technical masterpiece. How complex the construction was can be seen not only in the very long construction time, but also in the construction of a construction cableway that is already in part very complex. The massive concrete stations also testify to an engineering spirit who wanted to counter the extreme climatic conditions of the rough high mountains. In order to be able to build in the glacier area at all, special precautions had to be taken in the form of a kind of sarcophagus . Another technical feature is a very high concrete pillar in the middle of the third section of the Punta Indren cable car, which was built as a central entrance for skiers.

Around the end of the 1960s, two drag lifts followed on the Indren and Bors glaciers, which enabled summer skiing and were also very impressive constructions. Since no power cables could be laid in the glacier area, the drives for the systems were integrated into the cable car mountain station and the tow lifts were designed as so-called triangular lifts. With these two lifts, instead of going directly to the valley station, the return cable runs over extremely complex structures over the rocky ridges to a third station - the drive at the cable car mountain station - and only from there back to the valley station. This means that the lifts can be driven from the central cable car mountain station.

The lift on the Bors Glacier was finally destroyed by an avalanche in the early 1980s and has only existed as a ruin since then. The lift on the Indren Glacier was completely replaced at the beginning of the 1990s, the remains of the old system can still be seen today next to the existing system in the area of the mountain station. At the beginning of the 1980s, a second lift followed on the Indren glacier (Rocette), which leads up to an altitude of 3550 m on the Borsscharte (Forcella Bors).

Additional employment facilities were built when the cable car was built in the 1960s in the form of the Balmdakorblift and the single chairlift "Mullero" in the area of the second middle station, Bocchetta delle Pisse. The Balmakorblift was also destroyed by an avalanche in the mid-1980s and then rebuilt to make it safe from avalanches, which led to the legendary bunker-like valley station and the notorious extremely long and very high first span.

Tourist boom and decline

These opportunities that the ski area offered, which were extremely unusual for the time, soon brought Alagna an international reputation and a strong tourist boom. With the death of the owner of the facilities, the builder Giorgio Rolandi, however, efforts to keep the ski area in good shape and, above all, to modernize it, were gradually reduced. Until 2000, the Indren Glacier T-bar lift was the only one to be replaced, and no other new systems were added. The area lost much of its interest and was largely forgotten internationally.

Renaissance through freeride

Ironically, a second bloom of tourism in Alagna resulted from precisely this circumstance. The fact that the town and ski area had slept through almost all of the tourist developments of the past forty years made the once ultra-modern ski area a nostalgic gem that could hardly be found in the Alps in the mid-1990s. There were no gigantic lift networks, no expensively blasted slopes into the mountains, the valley town had retained its authentic appearance, there were no signs of mass tourism and the increasingly declining slope maintenance instead opened up impressive powder snow variants in the secured ski area. The area experienced a renaissance with the advent of the freeriding movement . Skiers who were tired of mass tourism and the monotony of some other ski areas, but loved the authenticity , the grandiose deep snow opportunities and the adventurous flair that the area had received not least because of its gigantic, hopelessly outdated lifts, represented the new clientele Especially on an international level, the place was then considered the pearl of the freeride areas in the Alps, especially in Scandinavia, but the ski area was also highly regarded in the USA. Last but not least, the securing of the most important deep snow routes and the joint ski pass with the large MonterosaSKI ski area , with which there was a connection via deep snow routes and lifts since around 1991, made the area practically unique in its versatility.

Reorientation back to the mass-market ski area

In 2000, the old operating company Monrosa SPA was dissolved and a new company founded, in which the lift company of the two neighboring ski areas of Gressoney and Ayas has a large stake. Even if the new company maintains the old slogan Freeride Paradise , the behavior is almost contrary to the previous concept.

Immediately in 2000 a massive renovation program was started. In the first phase, the two lower sections of the old aerial tramway were replaced by a Leitner 8-seater gondola lift with and a double chairlift. The new routes are somewhat less favorable than the old ones with regard to the slopes, but at least the cable car has increased the capacity enormously. In the following years, several of the old ski routes were replaced by slopes, some of which had to be leveled and blown up in the mountains with considerable construction effort. A direct lift and slope connection to the MonterosaSKI ski area was also established. With the exception of the third section of the old aerial tramway, all other systems in the old area were shut down without replacement, so that no deep snow routes are available on this side of the massif, as they have either been converted into slopes or are no longer accessible. If the aerial tramway is open, which is becoming increasingly rare, the variants from Punta Indren to the Gressoney Valley and MonterosaSKI area can still be used, although with the closure of the glacier lifts, many of the old routes can no longer be reached without touring equipment .

The aerial tramway to Punta Indren is also due to be shut down this summer. Instead, a lift system from the Gressoney Valley is under construction, which is expected to go into operation in winter 2007-2008. With the new facility, the Gressoney ski area is much better connected to the glacier regions of Punta Indren, but from Alagna it has become very difficult to reach, since there are no deep snow routes back to Alagna for the time being because the necessary return lifts are no longer in operation become. The project to develop a 3700 m high ridge called Cresta Rossa above Punta Indren has repeatedly failed despite various construction measures and its implementation currently appears politically and financially doubtful.

Conclusion

Overall, it can be said that freeride - if at all - currently only plays a minor role. After the massive construction work, this is only possible in parts of the area, at least in the usual form, and only if the necessary lifts are operated again or replaced.

The entire development is rated very differently. According to one opinion, it is the long overdue necessary modernization and economic safeguarding of the area for the future, which should bring the area permanent opportunities in the market. In this view, a pure focus on freeride would not have been able to do this. It can be seen as certain that due to the far greater mass, the reorientation away from freeride, the overall balance sheet will be economically successful, although it is also becoming apparent that the losses in terms of guests from the freeride area will be greater than initially assumed. Nevertheless, the gain should more than compensate for this effect. However, it seems doubtful whether the higher profitability that came with commercialization will actually flow to the valley town of Alagna, as the neighboring valleys have benefited significantly more from the new buildings in terms of infrastructure and have only become more attractive compared to the already remote Alagna.

In the field of freeriders, the entire development is often viewed very critically because it seems doubtful whether the access to the old freeride areas will be reopened in the future and, in particular, the new facility from Gressoney towards Punta Indren is seen as a sign that due to the high investment In this last freeride sector, new slopes are to be created in the medium term. In particular, it is regretted that with the restructuring of the Alagna ski area, one of the most extraordinary and charming ski areas in the Alps with an incomparable touch of adventure and nostalgia, which also enabled unique freeriding opportunities and skiing in harmony with the mountain world, is now finally a thing of history.

Personalities

Ulrich Ruffiner (between 1480 and 1483 - between 1549 and 1556), master builder working in Valais.
Daniel Heintz the Elder (* around 1530 / 35–1596), builder, architect and sculptor.
Melchiorre d'Enrico (* around 1573 in Alagna Valsesia, † around 1642 in Varallo ), Italian painter who worked in Valsesia.
Giovanni d'Enrico (* 1559 in Alagna Valsesia, † 1644 in Borgosesia ), brother of Antonio d'Enrico called Tanzio da Varallo, Italian sculptor and architect who was involved in the construction of the Sacro Monte di Varallo .
Antonio d'Enrico called Tanzio da Varallo (* around 1582 in Alagna Valsesia, † around 1633 in Varallo?), Italian painter.
Giovanni Giordani (* 1822 in Alagna Valsesia; † 1890), Italian doctor and author of a book about the Walser dialect of his home village.

Web links

Commons : Alagna Valsesia - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Website of the municipality (English, Italian)
Experience report from the day the last freeride facilities were closed - Balmaday 2005 - with photos and additional information about the tourist development of the ski area - German
Tourism information (English, Italian)
Information at www.comuni-italiani.it (Italian)
Photos from Alagna
Alagna Valsesia on the ETHorama platform

Individual evidence

↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
↑ Bandiera Arancione. In: Bandierearancioni.it. Retrieved May 9, 2018 (Italian).
^ Maria Concetta Di Paolo: Inchiesta demografica e sociolinguistica. In: Studi alemannici I. Edizioni dell'Orso, Torino 1999, pp. 175-222.
↑ Pier Paolo Viazzo: Sui modes e sulle cause del declino del dialetto Walser di Alagna, contenuto. In: We Walser. Half-yearly publication for Walsertum 28/1, 1990, pp. 28–33.
^ Karl Bohnenberger: The dialect of the German Valais in the Heimattal and in the outlying areas (= contributions to Swiss German grammar. Volume 6). Huber, Frauenfeld 1913, here p. 6.