Acquafraggia (also Acqua Fraggia) is a short and frequently steep '' torrente'', or seasonal stream, of the

province of Sondrio The province of Sondrio (), also known as Valtellina (the major valley of the province) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city of Sondrio. As of 2024, it has a population of 179,165. History The prov ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, north

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Its source is on Pizzo del Lago, at an elevation of , on the north side of the

Val Bregaglia The Val Bregaglia (; , ; ) is an alpine valley of Switzerland and Italy at the base of which runs the river Mera ( Romansh and ). Most of the valley falls within the Swiss district of Maloja in the canton of the Grisons, the lower part within ...

and close to the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

border which here marks the limit of the Po

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

. From here it flows in a southwesterly direction within the territory of the commune of

Piuro Piuro (''Piür'' in the local dialect) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sondrio in the Italian region Lombardy, located about north of Milan and about northwest of Sondrio, on the border with Switzerland. As of 31 December 2004, ...

until it joins the Mera as a right tributary at the locality of Borgonuovo, a little upstream from

Chiavenna Chiavenna (; ; ; or ; archaic or ) is a (municipality) in the Province of Sondrio in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. It is the centre of the Alpine Valchiavenna region. The historic town is a member of the Cittaslow movement. Geo ...

and the mouth of the Val Bregaglia. At an early point of its course the stream forms the lake of Acqua Fraggia at an elevation of {{convert, 2043, m, ft; it then runs through two

hanging valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a ve ...

s of

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

origins, emerging from each in a series of waterfalls, which were noted by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

in the

Codex Atlanticus The Codex Atlanticus (Atlantic Codex) is a 12-volume, bound set of drawings and writings (in Italian) by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest single set. Its name indicates the large paper used to preserve original Leonardo notebook pages, which was u ...

. This has been a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

since 1983. File:Cascade Acquafraggia 2015 07 - with surroundings.jpg, Waterfall called Cascade Acquafraggia. From 2015-07. With surrounding File:Cascade Acquafraggia 2015 07.jpg, Waterfall called Cascade Acquafraggia. From 2015-07. Closeup File:Acquafraggia waterfall.jpg, Acquafraggia waterfall view from the top

References

Monumento Naturale Cascate dell'Acquafraggia
Rivers of the Province of Sondrio Val Bregaglia Waterfalls of Lombardy Rivers of Italy