Poschiavo ( it, Poschiavo, lmo, Pusciaaf, german: Puschlav, rm, Puschlav) is a municipality in the

Bernina Region Bernina Region is one of the eleven administrative districts in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other fed ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

of Grisons in Switzerland.

History

Poschiavo is first mentioned in 824 as ''in Postclave'' though this comes from a later copy of the original document. In 1140 it was mentioned as ''de Pusclauio''. It was formerly known by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

name of ''Puschlav''. It owes its beauty to the imposing Renaissance style of its courtly 19th century architecture. These palazzi were built by prosperous local residents who had made their fortune abroad, particularly in Spain.

Geography

Poschiavo has an area, , of . Of this area, 19.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (46.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). Until 2017, the municipality was located in the Poschiavo sub-district of the Bernina district, after 2017 it was part of the new Bernina Region. It is located in the Val Poschiavo, one of the four valleys of the Italian Graubünden, where the official language is

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional It ...

. The other valleys are Val Bregaglia,

Mesolcina The ''Valle Mesolcina'', also known as the ''Val Mesolcina'' or ''Misox'' (German), is an alpine valley of the Grisons, Switzerland, stretching from the San Bernardino Pass to Grono where it joins the Calanca Valley. It is the valley formed by ...

and

Calanca Calanca is a municipality in the Moesa Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Arvigo, Braggio, Cauco and Selma merged to form the new municipality of Calanca.hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

. Poschiavo has its own lake, called

Lago di Poschiavo Lago di Poschiavo is a natural lake in the Val di Poschiavo in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. Geography It has an elevation is , a length of , a surface area of and a maximum depth of . The lake is both fed and drained by the Poschiavino riv ...

, which is located to the south of the village.

Transportation

Poschiavo's only direct connection to Engadin and the rest of Switzerland is over the

Bernina Pass The Bernina Pass (el. .) ( it, Passo del Bernina) is a high mountain pass in the Bernina Range of the Alps, in the canton of Graubünden (Grisons) in eastern Switzerland. It connects the famous resort town of St. Moritz in the Engadin valley wi ...

. The town is connected by the

Hauptstrasse 29 The Hauptstrasse 29 is a main road in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, with a total length of . The road begins at a junction with between Samedan and Pontresina, and passes Pontresina before climbing over the Bernina pass at a maximum elevation ...

road over the pass and a ''Rhätische Bahn'' (

RhB The Rhaetian Railway (german: Rhätische Bahn; it, Ferrovia retica; rm, Viafier retica), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB ...

) station on the

Bernina Railway The Bernina Railway (german: Berninalinie; it, Linea del Bernina; rm, Lingia dal Bernina) is a single-track railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerl ...

between St. Moritz and Tirano. There are a total of seven other railway stations along the Bernina line in the municipality: , , , , , , and .

Demographics

Poschiavo has a population (as of ) of ; as of 2008, 8.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals and, over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of −3.6%. In 2000 the gender distribution of the population was 49.1% male and 50.9% female;Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 while the age distribution, is: 332 people or 10.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old; 222 people or 6.9% are 10 to 14 and 122 people or 3.8% are from 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 300 people or 9.3% are between 20 and 29 years; 433 people or 13.4% are 30 to 39; 413 people or 12.8% are 40 to 49 and 422 people or 13.1% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 389 people or 12.1% between 60 and 69 years old; 362 people or 11.2% are 70 to 79; there are 197 people or 6.1% who are from 80 to 89 and 33 people or 1.0% who are from 90 to 99.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009 In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the CVP which received 32.2% of the vote; the next three most popular parties were the SVP (27%), the

SPS SPS may refer to: Law and government * Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO * NATO Science for Peace and Security * Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy * The Standard Procurement System, ...

(26.8%) and the FDP (12.6%). In the town about 69.3% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either the non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a '' Fachhochschule''). It has an unemployment rate of 1.21%, since 2005 there are 252 people employed in the primary economic sector with about 90 businesses involved in it; 456 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construc ...

in which there are 60 businesses; 1,073 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 164 businesses. From the , 2,774 or 86.0% are Roman Catholic, while 283 or 8.8% belong to the Swiss Reformed Church; of the rest of the population, there are nine individuals (or about 0.28% ) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, and fourteen, or about 0.43%, who belong to another Christian church. There are two persons, or approximately 0.06% of the population, who belong to another church not listed on the census; 36, i.e. 1.12% of the population belong to no church, because they are either

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

, whilst 107 of the total ( 3.32% of the population ) did not answer the question. The historical status of the population is given in the following table:

Languages

Most of the population () speaks Italian as native language (90.4%), with German being second most common (7.9%) and French being third (0.7%);Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 2 October 2009 apart from Italian, Lombard is the native language of the majority of people, spoken in a diglossia with Italian. Lombard is also the official spoken language of the city council.

Notable residents

Guido Fanconi Guido Fanconi () (1 January 1892 – 10 October 1979) was a Swiss pediatrician. He was born in Poschiavo, a small village in the Canton of Grisons. Fanconi is regarded as one of the founders of modern pediatrics. He received his secondary sch ...

(1892 in Poschiavo – 1979), a Swiss pediatrician *

Wolfgang Hildesheimer Wolfgang Hildesheimer (9 December 1916 – 21 August 1991) was a German author who incorporated the Theatre of the Absurd. He originally trained as an artist, before turning to writing. Biography Hildesheimer was born of Jewish parents in Hambu ...

(1916–1991), German writer, lived in Poschiavo from 1957–1991 * Werner Lüdi (1936 in Poschiavo – 2000), a Swiss jazz saxophonist and author * David Gervasi (born 1983 in Poschiavo), a decathlete * Federico Lardi (born 1985 in Poschiavo), a Swiss ice hockey defenceman * Evelina Raselli (born 1992 in Poschiavo), a Swiss ice hockey forward, bronze medallist at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympi ...

Heritage sites of national significance

There are ten buildings in Poschiavo that are listed as Swiss Heritage sites of national significance. Three churches and a chapel are listed: ''S. Maria Assunta'', ''S. Vittore'', ''S. Carlo Borromeo'' and ''Vecchio Monastero con cappella monastica di S. Maria Presentata''; three houses are also on the lis: ''Casa Tomé'', ''Devon House'', and ''Li Curt House''; finally, there are three buildings, now used as museums; ''Mulino di Aino'', ''Palazzo De Bassus Mengotti'', ''Palazzo Dorizzi''. ''Casa Tomé'' is now the Poschiavo town museum, an excellent example of the traditional architecture of the Val Poschiavo; during the Middle Ages it was built as a tower house; by 1450 it had reached its current exterior appearance. While it was built in the village center, it had a structure that more closely matched nearby farm house; today it houses a museum and hosts classes and discussions on traditional farming and food production techniques. The ''Mulino di Aino'' presents several pre-industrial trades; this working museum shows how flour was produced from grain, boards from timber and horseshoes from iron. The

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

''Palazzo De Bassus-Mengotti'' was built in 1655 and expanded over the following centuries and today it also houses a museum whose ground floor houses a collection of farm implements. The first floor is used for temporary exhibits and currently (in 2009) it holds a collection of paintings by the local artist Fernando Lardelli; the second floor contains exhibits showing everyday life in the valley and emigration from the same.Val Poschiavo tourism, history and tradition
accessed 2 October 2009 The ''Palazzo Dorizzi'' houses pieces collected by Christen and Dorizzi (from Basel and Puschlav respectively) in India during 1947–57.
accessed 2 October 2009

Climate

Between 1991 and 2020 Poschiavo had an average of 101.2 days of rain per year and on average received of precipitation; the wettest month were June and August, during which time it received an average of ; during these months there was rain for an average of 10.8 days in June and 11.1 days in August. The driest month of the year was February with an average of over 4.5 days.

References

External links

Official Site of the municipality of Poschiavo

* {{Authority control Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden Towns in Val Poschiavo