Poschiavo

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Central part of the Poschiavo south of Poschiavo with the lake

The Puschlav ( [pʊʃˈlaːf] ; Lombard Pus'ciaf, Italian Val Poschiavo, Rhaeto-Romanic Valposchiavo ? / I ) is an Italian-speaking southern valley in the Swiss canton of Graubünden . It can be reached from the Upper Engadine via the Bernina Pass , from Valtellina ( Italy ) via Campocologno , located in the extreme south of the valley, and from Livigno (Italy) via the Forcola di Livigno . Audio file / audio sample

geography

room

The Poschiavino flows through the Puschlav . It includes the two communities Brusio and Poschiavo and forms the Graubünden region of Bernina .

climate

The almost 25 km long from 2300 to 550  m above sea level. M. sloping valley has three different climatic zones :

Accordingly, the Poschiavo, bordered by three thousand meter peaks in the west and east, has a share in almost all levels of vegetation, from collin to nival.

mountains

language

Like the Misox , the Calanca valley , the Bergell and the village of Bivio in Oberhalbstein, the Poschiavo belongs to the Italian-speaking area of ​​Graubünden. The colloquial language in Poschiavo is Pus'ciavin, an Alpine-Lombard dialect. In the dialect the valley is called Pus'ciav, in the Italian written language Val Poschiavo .

media

The weekly newspaper Il Grigione Italiano , published in Poschiavo and the radio program Voci del Grigione italiano , has been reporting on events and topics from the Poschiavo and other Italian-speaking southern valleys in Graubünden since 1852 . The online newspaper Il Bernina also exists .

history

Early to Middle Ages

There are finds from the Bronze and Iron Ages, but they do not show any permanent settlement in prehistoric times. In the year 15 BC The area was conquered by the Romans and incorporated into the Gallia transpadana region based in Como . Probably the Poschiavo was already settled by Rhaetian tribes at that time . After the Lombard rule around the year 600, the Carolingian kings donated the so-called Pieven Poschiavo, Bormio and Mazzo (Veltlin) to the Abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris around 800 . The Bishop of Como challenged the donation, however, as he had rulership and basic rights in the valley; The Bishop of Chur also registered claims to power.

As early as the 12th century, the communities of Poschiavo and Brusio were territorially separated and each set up their own administrative structures. The church and monastery community of San Romerio on the left side of the valley from the 11th century also formed an independent territorial unit. From around 1100 to 1300 the lords of Mazzo-Venosta held the rulership rights over the valley instead of the Abbey of Saint-Denis. After they had become fiefs of the Bishop of Chur, they had the rights of the High Court over the Poschiavo confirmed in 1284. At the same time, the city of Como also tried to expand its power over the valley and installed a Podestà , a governor, who held the lower jurisdiction .

After Milan defeated Como in 1335, the Poschiavo came under the rule of the Visconti in 1350 . In 1406 the valley inhabitants revolted against the award of the Poschiavo fief to Giovanni Malacrida von Musso. In 1408 they placed themselves under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Chur and joined the Church of God . The conquest of the Valtellina by the Bündner in 1512 made the Poschiavo increasingly an intermediate space and a transit point for trade. In 1518 the border of the court was moved south to the tower of Piattamala near Campocologno in order to put an end to the centuries-old border disputes with the municipality of Tirano .

Reformation and denominational division

Because of the long-lasting tensions between Protestants and Catholics, the Poschiavo was known as “ Northern Ireland of Switzerland”, alluding to the Northern Ireland conflict . The first Protestants were refugees from the Inquisition from Italy, who settled in Poschiavo in 1547 because they had the protection of the Graubünden people here. They formed Protestant communities in Poschiavo and Brusio. According to Catholic sources, a third of the population in Brusio and a quarter in Poschiavo had become Protestant in 1589.

In 1620 there was the Veltliner murder , in which 27 Protestants were killed in Brusio as part of an uprising by the Catholics against the Graubünden rule. Protestants were persecuted and driven out in Poschiavo as late as 1623. It was not until 1642 that the three leagues intervened and forced an agreement.

Since then, the denominations have largely cut themselves off from one another and have lived in separate worlds. Public offices were divided between Catholics and Protestants according to the proportion of the population in a ratio of 2: 1. They annoyed each other by demonstratively disregarding the holidays of the other denomination. The public schools remained separated by denomination until 1968 - when the financial situation forced them to be merged - and the kindergartens until 1990.

It was not until the 1970s that denominational separation began to take a back seat in everyday social life. This is also due to an increased emigration of the Protestants who tend to belong to higher social classes; In 2013 they still made up around 10 percent of the valley's population.

Modern times

In 1797 Napoleon annexed Valtellina to the Cisalpine Republic . The Poschiavo was excluded from this. This new border and a trade blockade cut in two and weakened a valley community that had been linked for centuries by mutual trade. In 1851 the municipality of Brusio became definitively independent from Poschiavo. By a federal decree of 1869, the Poschiavo passed from the Diocese of Como to the Diocese of Chur.

After 1800 an increased emigration to the surrounding countries and to Australia began because the local agriculture could no longer feed the growing population. Between 1842 and 1865 the first road was built across the Bernina Pass. In 1857 a spa and spa hotel was opened in Le Prese, in 1906 the first hydroelectric power stations were put into operation in Brusio and from 1908 to 1910 the Bernina Railway was built over the Bernina Pass . As a result, an economic and tourist boom began, which was also reflected in the increasing number of residents. In 2000 more than 50% of jobs were in the service sector. Most of the farms in Poschiavo are currently certified organic.

to eat and drink

The Poschiavo is rich in traditional culinary specialties. Particularly well-known are the pizzoccheri ( buckwheat noodles with vegetables and lots of cheese), the brasciadella (ring bread, often with anise, which is either eaten fresh or dried as hard as a rock for months) and the mortadella , a sausage specialty that is either cotta (cooked ) or secca (raw). This includes a red wine from nearby Valtellina (Italy), where wine merchants from Poschiavo often own vineyards. The local cheese is also known.

Transport and tourism

San Romerio Church
Bernina Railway at Ospizio Bernina

From a tourist point of view, Poschiavo is best known for the Bernina Railway , which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 and has opened up the entire length of the valley since 1910. A well-developed cantonal road, Hauptstrasse 29 , runs through the entire valley.

The valley offers many opportunities for outdoor activities. Popular hiking trails can be found between the Bernina Pass and Alp Grüm , in the scenic Val di Campo or to the church of San Romerio , which lies directly on the precipice high above the lake. The historic center of the town of Poschiavo is famous with its palazzi . At the edge of the Cavaglia plain is a large glacier garden with numerous glacier mills .

architecture

A special feature of the Poschiavo is the crotto , a stone round house for storing food.

photos

  • South side of the Bernina Pass

  • At La Rösa on the pass road

  • San Carlo (back) and Angeli Custodi (front)

  • Le Prese and Lago di Poschiavo

  • View across the lake towards Le Prese

literature

Web links

Commons : Poschiavo  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Poschiavo  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cristina Besio: Grigione Italiano, Il. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ↑ a b c Arno Lanfranchi: Puschlav. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  3. ^ Sibilla Bondolfi: In «Northern Ireland of Switzerland». On the trail of the Protestant minority in Poschiavo. Neue Zürcher Zeitung of March 30, 2013, p. 17.
  4. ↑ a b Thomas Compagno: The Poschiavo becomes an organic valley. In: Coop newspaper. January 18, 2016, accessed January 9, 2019 .

Coordinates: 46 ° 19 '  N , 10 ° 4'  E ; CH1903:  801999  /  132000