Bivio (, ) is a village and former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Sursés Sursés () is a municipality in the Albula Region of the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2016 the former municipalities of Bivio, Cunter, Marmorera, Mulegns, Riom-Parsonz, Salouf, Savognin, Sur and Tinizong-Rona merged to form ...

in the district of Albula of 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 ...

canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2016 the former municipalities of Bivio,

Cunter Cunter (Romansh language, Romansh, in German language, German: Conters im Oberhalbstein) is a village and former municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Sursés in the district of Albula (district), Albula in the Cantons of Switzerland, ...

, Marmorera, Mulegns, Riom-Parsonz, Salouf, Savognin, Sur and

Tinizong-Rona Tinizong-Rona is a former municipality in the district of Albula in the Sursés in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It was formed in 1998 from the villages of ''Tinizong'' and '' Rona''. The local administration is situated in Tinizong ...

merged to form the new municipality of

Surses Sursés () is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Albula Region of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2016 the former municipalities of Bivio, Cunter, Marmorera, Mulegns, Riom-Parson ...

.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 27 April 2016

History

Bivio is first mentioned about 840 as ''de stabulo Bivio''. At one time it was known, in German, as ''Stallen'' and until 1895/1903 by its Italian name ''Stalla''.

Geography

Bivio had an area, , of . Of this area, 48.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (48.6%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The village is located on the roads to the Julier and Septimer pass. It is the only traditionally Italian language village north of the

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. However, the German-speaking population is now in the majority, with large Romansh- and Italian-speaking minorities. It consists of the village of Bivio and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Stalveder, Mott, Cavreccia and Valetta da Beiva. Until 1902 Bivio was known as by its Italian name ''Stalla''. Neighboring municipalities are Marmorera, Bever (exclave),

Silvaplana Silvaplana (Romansh language, Romansh: ) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Maloja Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden and the name of a lake in the municipality. History The first ...

, Sils im Engadin/Segl, Stampa (exclave Maloja), Soglio,

Avers Avers (; , ) is a high Alpine valley region and a municipality in the Viamala Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It includes Juf, the highest-altitude year-round settlement in Europe. History Avers is first mentioned in 1292 as ''An ...

and Mulegns.

Demographics

Bivio had a population (as of 2014) of 189. , 14.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -13.5%. , the gender distribution of the population was 47.5% male and 52.5% female.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 The age distribution, , in Bivio is; 21 people or 10.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 12 people or 5.9% are 10 to 14, and 3 people or 1.5% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 23 people or 11.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 29 people or 14.2% are 30 to 39, 24 people or 11.8% are 40 to 49, and 29 people or 14.2% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 30 people or 14.7% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 24 people or 11.8% are 70 to 79, there are 7 people or 3.4% who are 80 to 89, and there are 2 people or 1.0% who are 90 to 99.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009 In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 35.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (26.5%), the SPS (24.5%) and the CVP (13.5%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Bivio about 58.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Bivio has an unemployment rate of 1.55%. , there were 21 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 9 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 3 businesses in this sector. 68 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 ...

, with 21 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following timeline: ImageSize = width:600 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:300 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:0 PlotData= bar:% color:yellowgreen width:22 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1808 from:start till:182 text:"182" bar:1850 from:start till:211 text:"211" bar:1900 from:start till:141 text:"141" bar:1920 from:start till:121 text:"121" bar:1950 from:start till:224 text:"224" bar:1980 from:start till:238 text:"238" bar:1990 from:start till:223 text:"223" bar:2000 from:start till:129 text:"129" bar:2010 from:start till:204 text:"204"

Climate

Bivio has an average of 132.1 days of rain per year and on average receives of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

. The wettest month is August during which time Bivio receives an average of of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 11.9 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 13.1, but with only of precipitation. The driest month of the year is February with an average of of precipitation over 11.9 days., the weather station elevation is 1801 meters above sea level.

Languages

Since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, three languages have been spoken in the municipality, with Italian as the official language. However, German has become more and more common over the decades. The local dialect is a dialect of Lombard (''Bargajot''). The local version of Romansh is somewhere between the two main dialects:

Surmiran Surmiran (Surmiran, Vallader, Sutsilvan, Rumantsch Grischun: ''surmiran''; Puter: ''surmiraun'') is a dialect of the Romansh language. It is spoken in Surmeir and in the Albula Valley in the Grisons Canton, in Switzerland Switzer ...

and Puter. German language breaks up as well into local dialects. In 1880, 67.5% spoke a

Romance language The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

(either Italian or Romansh), and in 1910, 67.44% (including 26.36% of Italian speakers). This percentage sank to 43.0% in 1941. Most of the population () speaks German (55.4%), with Italian being second most common (29.4%) and Romansh being third (12.3%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 24-Sep-2009

Heritage sites of national significance

The archeological discovery of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

mountain shrine in the Julier pass, is listed as a Swiss heritage sites of national significance.Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance
21.11.2008 version, accessed 24-Sep-2009

References

External links

* {{Authority control Surses Former municipalities of Graubünden Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden