The Province of Sondrio ( it, provincia di Sondrio) is in the

Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

region of northern Italy. Its provincial capital is the city of

Sondrio Sondrio (; lmo, Sùndri; rm, Sunder; archaic german: Sünders or ; la, Sundrium) is an Italian city and ''comune'' and Provincial Capital located in the heart of the Valtellina. , Sondrio counts approximately 21,876 inhabitants (2015) and it is ...

. As of 2017, it has a population of 181,403.

History

The Province was established in 1815, within the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, combining the valleys of

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; rm, Vuclina (); lmo, Valtelina or ; german: Veltlin; it, Valtellina) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Tod ...

, Valchiavenna and Bormio. Before the Roman conquest, the territory was inhabited by

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

( Lepontii) and Rhaetians ( Camunni). The Romans included this area in their Cisalpine Gaul province. After the fall of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

, it came under the control of the

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...

and was first ruled by feudal lords from the local area. During the Middle Ages it belonged to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

. In the 14th century it fell under the rule of the Duchy of Milan due to the

House of Visconti Visconti is a surname which may refer to: Italian noble families * Visconti of Milan, ruled Milan from 1277 to 1447 ** Visconti di Modrone, collateral branch of the Visconti of Milan * Visconti of Pisa and Sardinia, ruled Gallura in Sardinia fro ...

and

House of Sforza The House of Sforza () was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti family in the mid-15th century, Sforza rule ending in Milan with the death of the last m ...

. Sondrio and Valtellina were strategically important in the politics of Europe, especially in the sixteenth and 17th century religious wars, due to their connections to Europe by Sondrio's Spluga Pass and valleys. Upon the collapse of the Duchy of Milan, rule over Sondrio was exercised by the Swiss Canton of Graubünden. Valtellina was invaded in 1622 by the Spanish Governor of Milan as the valleys had been used to transport troops around Europe; the Spanish efforts were assisted by a 1620 revolt in Valtellina against the Swiss. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) secured peace in the region and granted the region to the Canton of Graubünden. In 1797, the Republic of Valtellina was formed but was quickly conquered by the French to become a component of the Cisalpine Republic client state. The

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...

(1815) Sondrio and Valtellina as a province of the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. As most of Lombardy region was absorbed into Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, Sondrio and Valtellina were also absorbed into Sardinia.

Geography

The Province of Sondrio is a mostly mountainous, sparsely populated area in the north of Lombardy. It borders on the Swiss canton of Graubünden to the north, the Provinces of

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps ...

and Lecco to the west, the Province of Bergamo to the south and the Provinces of

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and '' comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

and

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third ...

to the east. The Rhaetian Alps are the highest mountains in Lombardy. The valleys mostly run from north to south, the main ones being the

and Valchiavenna. One of the main towns is Livigno (1,800 m above sea level), which is a tourist centre in the summer and a ski resort in the winter. There are 78 communes in the province and

is the biggest town and the administrative centre. The

Stelvio National Park Stelvio National Park ( it, Parco nazionale dello Stelvio; german: Nationalpark Stilfser Joch) is a national park in northeast Italy, established in 1935.Law no. 740 on the Constitution of the Stelvio National Park, published in ''Gazzetta Uffici ...

is located in the north-eastern end of the province. The economy is based on construction, logging, quarrying, tourism and light industry. Workers from Switzerland commute to work in Sondrio, and other workers cross the border from Italy to join the Swiss workforce. Throughout the province grapes have traditionally been grown, each district having its own local variety and producing its own local wine. It has been necessary for farmers to engineer terraces on the steep slopes, building dry stone retaining walls and moving earth to make the best use of terrain that is unsuitable for general agricultural purposes. The traditions of

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, r ...

are embedded in the culture of the countryside.

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control

History

Geography

See also

References

External links