Tirano (; ) is a town and (municipality) in

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; (); or ; ; ) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski centre, hot spring spas, bresa ...

, located in 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 ...

(

northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

). It has 9,053 inhabitants (2016) and is adjacent to the

Italy–Switzerland border The border between the modern states of Switzerland and Italy extends for , from the French-Swiss-Italian tripoint at Mont Dolent in the west to the Austrian-Swiss-Italian tripoint near Piz Lad in the east. Much of the border runs across the ...

. The river Adda flows through the town.

Main sights

Located nearby is the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

shrine of the Madonna di Tirano, a major tourist attraction. The shrine is dedicated to the appearance of the Blessed Mother to Mario Degli Omodei on September 29, 1504, an event religious pilgrims credit with ending a pestilence. The Museo Etnografico Tiranese (MET) is an ethnographic museum and located nearby the Basilica Madonna di Tirano in an 18th-century Palazzo, the Casa del Penitenziere (Penitent's House). The museum of Palazzo Salis in the old town of Tirano is an example of the use of trompe l'oeil to create the illusion of architectural features.

Transportation

Tirano has two neighboring railway stations.

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

station, is operated by

Trenitalia Trenitalia Società per azioni, SpA is the primary train operator of Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government. It was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulati ...

, the state railway company, and is terminus of the Tirano–Lecco railway. The other, a

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

station, is operated by the

Rhaetian Railway The Rhaetian Railway (; ; ), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB operates all the railway lines of the Cantons of Switzerland, ...

(RhB). The line of the

Bernina Railway The Bernina railway line (; ; ) is a Single track (rail), single-track railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, with the tow ...

connects

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

( canton of Graubünden/

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

) with Tirano. The Bernina Express of RhB runs over this line to . The complete line was opened in 1910. In 2008, the Bernina Railway as well as the

Albula Railway The Albula railway line (; ; ) is a Single track (rail), single track metre gauge railway line forming part of the core network of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It links Thusis (Rhae ...

were added by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

to the list of UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Main sights

Transportation

Notable people

See also

References

External links