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Val Poschiavo
Val Poschiavo (, , ) is a valley in the southern, Italian-speaking part of the Swiss canton of the Grisons. The main town is Poschiavo. The valley is known for its distinctive microclimate that supports a diverse agricultural landscape, ranging from alpine pastures in the north to orchards and small arable plots in the south. Since 2010, Val Poschiavo has emerged as Switzerland's leading region for organic farming, with over 83% of its agricultural land certified organic by 2021. The valley is served by the scenic Bernina Railway, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Rhaetian Railway, which connects the Upper Engadine to Tirano in Italy's Valtellina region. Geography Val Poschiavo is a glacial trough valley running roughly north–south for about 25 km in the southern Alps. Hemmed in by the Bernina Range to the west and the Livigno Alps to the east, it is physically cut off from the Upper Engadine by the Bernina Pass (2,328 m elevation) and slopes southwards to Camp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss Italian
The Italian language in Italian Switzerland or Swiss Italian (, ) is the variety of the Italian language taught in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. While this variety is mainly spoken in the canton of Ticino and in the southern part of Grisons (about 270,000 native speakers), Italian is spoken natively in the whole country by about 700,000 people: Swiss Italians, Italian immigrants and Swiss citizens with Italian citizenship. The Swiss variety of Italian is distinct from the traditional vernaculars of the Italian-speaking area, which are classified as varieties of the Gallo-Italic Lombard language. Status and usage Italian, as the third Swiss national language, is spoken in Italian-speaking Switzerland (Ticino and the southern part of Grisons). It is an official language both at the federal level and in the two cantons of Ticino and Grisons. Italian is also one of the most spoken languages in German-speaking Switzerland, and used as an idiom by Italian immigra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livigno Alps
The Livigno Alps are a mountain range in the Alps of eastern Switzerland and northern Italy, around the Italian village Livigno. They are considered to be part of the Central Eastern Alps. The Livigno Alps are separated from the Bernina Range in the south-west by the Bernina Pass; from the Albula Alps in the north-west by the Upper Engadin valley; from the Sesvenna Alps in the north-east by the Spöl valley; from the Ortler Alps in the east by the Passo di Fraéle and the upper Adda River valley (Valtellina). The Livigno Alps are drained by the rivers Adda River, Inn and Rom (tributary of the Adige). Peaks The main peaks of the Livigno Alps are: Passes The main passes of the Livigno Alps are: See also *Swiss Alps The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ... * Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subsistence Farming
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occur principally with an eye toward what the family will need during the coming year, and only secondarily toward market prices. Tony Waters, a professor of sociology, defines "subsistence peasants" as "people who grow what they eat, build their own houses, and live without regularly making purchases in the marketplace". Despite the self-sufficiency in subsistence farming, most subsistence farmers also participate in trade to some degree. Although their amount of trade as measured in cash is less than that of consumers in countries with modern complex markets, they use these markets mainly to obtain goods, not to generate income for food; these goods are typically not necessary for survival and may include sugar, iron roofing-sheets, bicyc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydropower
Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Potential energy, gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a water source to produce power. Hydropower is a method of sustainable energy production. Hydropower is now used principally for Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power generation, and is also applied as one half of an energy storage system known as pumped-storage hydroelectricity. Hydropower is an attractive alternative to fossil fuels as it does not directly produce Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, carbon dioxide or other Air pollution, atmospheric pollutants and it provides a relatively consistent source of power. Nonetheless, it has economic, sociological, and environmental downsides and requires a sufficiently energetic source of water, such as a river or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lago Di Poschiavo
Lago di Poschiavo is a natural lake in the Val di Poschiavo in the Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons. Geography It lies at an elevation of , a length of , a surface area of and a maximum depth of . The lake is both fed and drained by the Poschiavino river and drains to the south, with its water eventually reaching the Mediterranean via the rivers Adda (river), Adda and Po (river), Po. The lake lies within the municipality of Poschiavo, and the villages of Le Prese and Miralago lie at its northern and southern ends respectively. The Bernina railway line runs alongside the western side of the lake, with stations at Le Prese and Miralago. The main valley road (Hauptstrasse 29) follows a higher route on the same side of the lake. A level hiking trail circumnavigates the lake, with some sections on the more precipitous eastern side in tunnel. The lake was first referred to in 1010, when the newly founded Basilica of Sant'Abbondio, monastery of San Abbondio in Como ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrupting a watercourse to form an Bay, embayment within it, excavating, or building any number of retaining walls or levees to enclose any area to store water. Types Dammed valleys Dammed reservoirs are artificial lakes created and controlled by a dam constructed across a valley and rely on the natural topography to provide most of the basin of the reservoir. These reservoirs can either be ''on-stream reservoirs'', which are located on the original streambed of the downstream river and are filled by stream, creeks, rivers or rainwater that surface runoff, runs off the surrounding forested catchments, or ''off-stream reservoirs'', which receive water diversion, diverted water from a nearby stream or aqueduct (water supply), aq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poschiavino
Poschiavino is an long river that rises in the Swiss canton of Graubünden and flows into the Italian province of Sondrio. The majority of the river is in Switzerland, with just in Italy. The source of the river lies at above sea level in the Rhaetian Alps, close to the Livigno Pass. From here the river flows south through the upper Val Poschiavo, past the settlements of La Rösa, Poschiavo and Le Prese, before entering the long Lago di Poschiavo. Below the lake, the river passes the settlements of Brusio and Campocologno before crossing the border into Italy. It flows into the Adda in Tirano, at above sea level. The water of the river and its tributaries is used to power several hydro-electric plants owned by Repower AG. Hydrology and catchment Poschiavino drains a 153 km2 alpine catchment, 82 % of which lies inside Switzerland. Continuous gauging at Le Prese (962 m) shows an average discharge of 6.0 cubic metres per second (m3/s), for 1974 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brusio
Brusio (; ) is a municipality in the Bernina Region in the canton of Grisons in Switzerland. History Brusio is first mentioned in 1106 as ''Bruse''. It was first mentioned as Brusio in 1212. Previously it was known as Romansh: ''Brüsch'' and . The monastery of San Romerio (earlier, San Remigio) was founded above the Val Poschiavo before 1055. Soon thereafter the village of Brusio was settled on the valley floor below the monastery. The monastery influenced this early stage of settlement and growth in the village. By 1212 it was an independent municipality with its own dean or senior pastor who represented the municipality's interests. In the 13th century, the entire Val Poschiavo became part of the fief of the Bishop of Chur. During the 14th century, Brusio was part of the practically (although not officially) independent municipality of Poschiavo. Around 1498, Poschiavo (with Brusio) joined the League of God's House and by extension, the Three Leagues. During the conquest o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceous plant, herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica and are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. Furthermore, grasslands are one of the largest biomes on Earth and dominate the landscape worldwide. There are different types of grasslands: natural grasslands, semi-natural grasslands, and agricultural grasslands. They cover 31–69% of the Earth's land area. Definitions Included among the variety of definitions for grasslands are: * "...any plant community, including harvested forages, in which grasses and/or legumes make up the dominant vegetation." * "...terrestrial ecosystems dominated by herbaceous and shrub vegetation, and maintained by fire, grazing, drought and/or freezing temperatures." (Pilot Assessm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary science and is concerned with local detail in general, including not only relief, but also natural, artificial, and cultural features such as roads, land boundaries, and buildings. In the United States, topography often means specifically relief, even though the USGS topographic maps record not just elevation contours, but also roads, populated places, structures, land boundaries, and so on. Topography in a narrow sense involves the recording of relief or terrain, the three-dimensional quality of the surface, and the identification of specific landforms; this is also known as geomorphometry. In modern usage, this involves generation of elevation data in digital form ( DEM). It is often considered to include the graphic representation of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foehn Wind
A Foehn, or Föhn (, , , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm downslope wind in the lee of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes (see orographic lift). As a consequence of the different adiabatic lapse rates of moist and dry air, the air on the leeward slopes becomes warmer than equivalent elevations on the windward slopes. Foehn winds can raise temperatures by as much as in just a matter of hours. Switzerland, southern Germany, and Austria have a warmer climate due to the Foehn, as moist winds off the Mediterranean Sea blow over the Alps. Etymology The name ''Foehn'' (, ) arose in the Alpine region. Originating from Latin , a mild west wind of which Favonius was the Roman personification and probably transmitted by or just , the term was adopted as . In the Southern Alps, the phenomenon is known as but also and in Serbo-Croatian and Slovene. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
