Sondrio (Zundri in Valtellina dialect) is an Italian town of 21 356 inhabitants, the capital of the province of the same name, located in the middle Valtellina, is the main center of the valley. It was designated Alpine Town of the Year 2007.
The main landmarks of Sondrio are the SS38 state road and the Adda river, which laps the town to the south. Sondrio is crossed by viale Stadio (which originates to the west, from the SS38 state road). The road axis which initially takes the name of viale Stadio then runs through the town from west to east taking the name of via Adua, via Mazzini, via Sauro and via Stelvio. East of Sondrio, the Mallero torrent passes under via Adua.
The collegiate church of Saints Gervasio and Protasio
The church
(Insigne Collegiata Arcipretale Plebana) of Saints Gervasio and
Protasio, certainly one of the oldest in Valtellina, was the head of a
vast parish and was already a collegiate church in the 12th century.
The Ligariana Tower rises in the heart of Sondrio and is both the
civic tower and the bell tower of the Collegiate Church. It was built
during the works of the Collegiate itself. The design was first
entrusted to the architect Pietro Ligari. For the first drawing dated
1733, the community was unable to bear the costs (the project envisaged
an 80 m high building) and therefore Ligari was asked to elaborate
simpler proposals. However, not even the 1742 project, reduced in height
and decorations, satisfied the client and in the end the bell tower was
built according to a third project by the Ticino master builder Giacomo
Cometti. Even Cometti's idea (simpler than Ligarian's but still
grandiose in the elaboration of the belfry and the overlying lantern)
proved to be too expensive over time and therefore was implemented only
up to the middle of the bell tower. When Cometti died (1756), the
architect Pietro Solari was finally asked to continue the work on the
basis of a further reduced project. Unfortunately, in the following two
years, the community of Sondrio found itself forced to finance the
reconstruction of the only bridge over the Mallero which collapsed
following the disastrous flood. Thus the funds needed to complete the
bell tower were lacking and in 1761, despite the lack of the upper
crowning, the works were completed. On the tower is installed a concert
of 9 bells (8 in scale, plus a semitone) with a total weight of 8156 kg
tuned on the major diatonic scale of B flat2. The concerto was cast in
1936 by the Ottolina Giuseppe foundry and Seregno's brother.
The
Sanctuary of Sassella and the chapels of the old Via Valeriana
The Sanctuary of the Beata Vergine della Sassella is a reworked
construction starting from a previous church, already documented in the
15th century.
According to an early eighteenth-century project,
the Sanctuary was supposed to constitute the highest point of a Sacro
Monte including fifteen chapels arranged along the Via Valeriana, which
at that time connected the church to the city centre. Of these chapels
only six were built, of which only the following survive today:
the chapel of the Annunciata (1713), in via Bassi, a building built
according to a project attributed to Pietro Ligari, inside which there
is a sixteenth-century canvas on the theme of the Passion, a painting
originally kept in the Sassella Sanctuary;
the chapel located behind
the city stadium, near via Valeriana 28;
the chapel located in the
first part of the climb which, along via Valeriana, leads to the
locality of Triasso through a series of hairpin bends;
the so-called
chapel of the Apostles (1713-1714), in the stretch of dirt road that
leads directly to the Sanctuary from the first hairpin bend of the climb
to Triasso. Attributed to Pietro Ligari, the chapel of the Apostles
houses a cycle of twelve wooden statues created by Giovambattista Zotti
on the theme of Pentecost.
The church of San Rocco, built in 1513
The church of the Sacred
Heart, designed by the engineer D. Cattaneo and consecrated on 20 June
1993
The parish church of the Beata Vergine del Rosario, built in
1960 to a design by Eng. E. Tirinzoni, along the road which until the
beginning of the 19th century connected the city center to the Sanctuary
of Sassella and, from this, led to the lower Valtellina. From this
Sanctuary comes the Adoration of the Shepherds by Vincenzo de Barberis,
a work located in the presbytery of the church of the Beata Vergine del
Rosario but which once served as the main altarpiece of the Sanctuary of
Sassella.
In the historic center of the city there is also the
ancient little church of the Guardian Angel, now deconsecrated, built
between 1658 and 1660.
Praetorian Palace
The Palazzo Pretorio, or Palazzo della Ragione,
now the seat of the municipality of Sondrio, has undergone numerous
changes over the centuries. Formerly owned by the Peregrini family, it
was purchased in 1552 by the Consiglio di Valle (organ representing the
three Terzieri into which Valtellina was divided at the time) so that it
would become the seat of the Grigione Government in Valtellina. The
expense was borne by the three Terzieri as they were obliged to provide
the premises for the Governor, the Judge and the Chancellor. Between
1552 and 1594, as shown by various documents preserved in the municipal
historical archive, the building was enlarged and adapted to the needs
of the new rulers of the Valtellina, as the palace was to house, in
addition to the residence of the Governor and the Vicar, also the
Provincial Court, prisons, military and bureaucratic buildings. To
better meet bureaucratic needs, Palazzo Martinengo was purchased in 1643
to house the residence of the Vicar and his offices. Even after the
domination of the Grisons, Palazzo Pretorio was always chosen to host
the residence and offices of the Governors, as happened during the
Austrian rule. Between 1815 and 1820, during the Austrian rule, part of
the south side of the building was demolished to make room for via Regia
(today's Corso Italia), a wider and straighter street that connected
piazza Campello to piazza Nuova (today's piazza Garibaldi). The building
that housed the Court appeared along this new street. Up until the
beginning of the 20th century, the palace appeared as a severe building,
devoid of decorations, as it appears in a photograph of the time.
The facade underwent a radical change in 1917, when the engineer
Giussani, in charge of the building's arrangement, wanted to reproduce
the characteristics of the Besta di Teglio palace, frescoing on the
facade the coats of arms of the Visconti who dominated the valley in the
late Middle Ages. The engineer Giussani also modified the windows on the
second floor, enlarging them and aligning them with those on the first
floor and added other decorative elements, such as - for example - the
balcony that covered the coping above the door and the large window that
corresponds today to the office of the mayor. Under the roof, in the
various nailed lunettes, there are the coats of arms of some Valtellina
municipalities, probably those which at the time were considered the
most important in the valley: Sondrio, Castione, Chiavenna, Morbegno,
Dazio, Traona, Teglio, Tresivio, Bormio, Tirano and Colorina.
Only the three sixteenth-century windows on the first floor, those on
the ground floor and the elegant rusticated portal remain of the
original façade bearing the date 1553 with the inscription "Invictæ
Unitati" in memory of the alliance between Valtellina and the Three
Leagues of Grisons .
After these interventions, again in 1917,
the seat of the Municipality of Sondrio moved from Palazzo Paribelli in
Piazza Quadrivio to Palazzo Pretorio. Entering the building, you enter
the internal courtyard, which has the shape of an imperfect
quadrilateral. A portico with a double row of loggias overlooks the
older sides of the building, while the facades overlooking the courtyard
of the former court are decorated with ornamental motifs dating back to
the 1917 renovation.
Some rooms of the building deserve a careful
visit, several of which are reserved for exhibitions and displays. Just
after the entrance, on the left, you enter a room with numerous
frescoes. Dominating, in the center of the vault, is a fresco by Cesare
Ligari depicting Justice. In fact, this must have been the place (once
it was an open portico) where justice was administered. Along the walls
you can see various coats of arms of some of the Grisons noble families
who had exponents as Governors of the Valley:
the Salis, whose symbol
was a willow and a winged woman.
the Planta, whose symbol was a
lion's paw.
the Buol, who had Justice as their emblem.
Also
among the rooms reserved for exhibitions, there is the ancient room
where the taxes paid by the citizens were kept: it is curious to observe
how this room has been reinforced, i.e. by placing some
Other
Other civil buildings to remember are:
Castel Masegra,
which according to tradition dates back to 1041
The Palazzo della
Provincia, built between 1932 and 1935 to a design by Giovanni Muzio
The Sassi de Lavizzari palace, from the 17th century, where the
Valtellinese Museum of History and Art is located
Villa Quadrio,
built in 1862, where the civic library named after Pio Rajna in 1930 is
located
In the municipality there are pre-school institutions, first and second grade schools, lower and higher. Those of the upper second level include, an ITIS, a high school with linguistics, human sciences, economic-social and classical human sciences, a scientific high school, a vocational training center, a professional institute, an equal institute.
Valtellinese Museum of History and Art
Masegra Castle Historical
Museum
Theater
The Teatro Sociale of Sondrio is a historical
reality that today, thanks to the restoration interventions, has
returned to being the pulsating life of the city.
Sondrio is fourteenth in the special ranking built by Sole24Ore on the Quality of Life in the Italian provinces for 2014.
The town extends over an area of about 20 square kilometers in the
valley floor of the middle Valtellina, at the confluence of the Adda
river and the Mallero stream. The urban layout has been greatly
compromised by disorderly expansion starting in the 1950s, however the
city retains important vestiges of its past: the historic centre,
crossed by via Scarpatetti, or Scarpatéc in Sondrio; Castel Masegra, a
14th-century palace remodeled and used over the centuries in the most
varied ways with two towers and a 15th-century portal; the collegiate
church dedicated to the patron saints of the city, Gervasio and
Protasio, with the bell tower in rough stone, designed by the artist and
architect Pietro Ligari, with a singular appearance due to its rather
squat shape. Important for the history of Sondrio and its Province is
the Palazzo Sassi de' Lavizzari which houses the Valtellinese Museum of
History and Art including the archaeological and historical-artistic
sections.
The historic center occupies a small portion of the
current city and the buildings of greatest historical-artistic interest
are located in the surroundings of the following itinerary:
Piazza Campello is one of the historic squares of the city. It was
located on the southern edge of the medieval city and has always been
the heart, especially the religious one, of the city. In ancient times,
in fact, there were as many as six religious buildings that overlooked
this area:
the Collegiate of Saints Gervasio and Protasio, still
existing.
the oratory of the Confraternita del SS.mo Sacramento:
built between 1640 and 1643, it was annexed to the south side of the
collegiate church. It was demolished in 1927.
the church of Santi
Nabore e Felice: it was destined for Protestant worship in 1582, it was
demolished following the episode of the "Sacro Macello" in 1620.
the
church of Suffragio: it was built starting from 1670 on the area of the
former Protestant cemetery. It was closed for worship in 1806 to be used
as a departmental archive. It was demolished in 1940.
church of S.
Eusebio: already existing in the XIV century, today it no longer exists.
church of S. Antonio: it was annexed to Palazzo Pretorio and was located
in front of the Collegiata, it already existed at the end of the
fifteenth century. After its deconsecration it was used as a hospital
(it was the first hospital in the city). This church no longer exists.
On the southern side of the collegiate church, where today's square
still extends, was the cemetery, surrounded by a wall. Hence the name
"Campello". Today the square looks very different: on the northern side
of the square we find the Collegiata dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio, to
the west Palazzo Pretorio (seat of the Municipality of Sondrio), to the
south the headquarters of the Piccolo Credito Valtellinese bank, to the
east the Ligariana (the bell tower) and the neoclassical
Botterini-Pelosi palace.
Piazza Garibaldi was built in the first decades of the 19th century with the construction of the Royal Postal Road which moved the main road axis of the Province, supplanting the ancient and inadequate Via Valeriana. Previously, there were fields, rural buildings and the so-called "malleretti". The new square, commonly called "Piazza nuova" as opposed to the "Piazza vecchia", according to the intentions of the Austrian government was to go to create the new center of a modern provincial capital, which had not undergone major building expansions after the Middle Ages. The first building that was built was the Teatro Sociale and is located on the southern side of the square. It was designed by Luigi Canonica and was inaugurated in 1824. Its interior was originally structured like an opera house, with a double order of boxes, the gallery and kept a bust of the emperor in the royal box. In 1826, on the west side of the square, the Lambertenghi palace was built, designed by Carlo Lambertenghi. In 1840 the current building that houses the provincial headquarters of the Bank of Italy was erected, located next to the Teatro Sociale. The palace was designed by Giacomo Poncini and subsequently completed by the engineer Francesco Polatti. Subsequently, in 1855, the imposing “Hotel de la poste” was built on the southern side of the square, based on a project by Giacinto Carbonera. To the east, at the corner with the Hotel de la Poste, the new headquarters of the Banca Popolare di Sondrio was built in 1882. On the east side, the ancient Casa Del Felice and Albergo Sondrio was rebuilt after the Second World War and the architecture does not integrate well with the elegant nineteenth-century style of the buildings overlooking the square. On the first floor there are modern mosaics created by Livio Benetti in 1956 which depict characters from Valtellina history and art: from the left Tebaldo Capitanei, Pietro Ligari, Giuseppe Piazzi and Giovanni Visconti Venosta. On the northwest side, set back from the square, is the sixteenth-century Palazzo Martinengo, in front of which there is a small garden in the center of which stands the monument to gratitude in honor of Ferdinand I, who built the banks of the Mallero stream avoiding city the frequent flooding of the torrent. The statues of the monument, built in 1839, are by Giuseppe Croff. The "Piazza nuova" changed its name on several historical occasions: first it was named after Francesco I. With the unification of Italy it was named after King Vittorio Emanuele II. In September 1909, the statue depicting Giuseppe Garibaldi, created by the sculptor Francesco Confalonieri, was placed in the middle of the square. Since then the square definitively took the name of the hero of the two worlds.
The term Canton indicates that historic district of the city built on the orographic right of the Mallero, therefore outside the city walls already before the fourteenth century. The ideal center of this district is the Piazzetta Carbonera, where the homonymous palace built in the sixteenth century by the noble Parravicini family is located. Going up towards Piazza Vecchia (currently Piazza Cavour), take Via Romegialli, where, on the left, you can see the former Romegialli house which inside still retains traces of the church of S. Francesco di Sales and the monks' hospice Benedictines. Opposite is the Sertoli-Rajna house, now home to a library, where the famous philologist and literary figure Pio Rajna was born. Attached to this residence was the oratory dedicated to the Madonna della Neve. Another valuable building, especially for the frescoed wall decorations on the facades towards the Mallero stream, is the adjacent Palazzo Sertoli-Guicciardi. A little further on, after the crossroads that leads to the locality of Bajacca, there is a house with a fresco depicting the coronation of Mary, the work of Pietro Ligari. At the end of the road, near the bridge that leads to Piazza Cavour, the recent restoration of the Mozzi house has brought to light the original decorative apparatus of the facade and the frescoed figures, probably from the seventeenth century, of the saints Gervasio and Protasio, patrons of the city.
Piazza Cavour is better known by the people of Sondrio under the name of Piazza Vecchia. Coming from Cantone, in the past it was accessed via the only bridge over the Mallero, which starting from the fourteenth century was built in masonry with three arches, while in 1748 it was embellished with a statue of St. John of Nepomuk, protector of bridges and from floods . This bridge was destroyed by the ruinous flood of 1834, following which it was decided to build the banks of the stream. After crossing the bridge, you crossed the Mallero gate, built in 1329 along the course of the medieval walls and only demolished in 1811. The municipal proclamations, sentences and notices were posted on this gate. Beyond the gate, one entered the square, which for centuries was the commercial center of the city since the market was held in this square, and it was the horse "post" station along the Via Valeriana (the only one that ran through the valley). . The construction of the embankments partially modified the layout of the square, creating a difference in height, and in 1933 the still visible market canopy was built in the center of the square.
Via Lavizzari is the stretch of the ancient Via Valeriana which
crossed the center of the city. Along the course of this narrow street,
several stately homes and merchants' houses were built. Proceeding from
Piazza Cavour in the direction of Piazza Quadrivio, you can see:
Casa Longoni, with the Baroque portal dated 1672; inside you can see the
characteristic courtyard.
The little church of the Guardian Angel,
built starting from 1657 by the noble Bosatta-Carbonera family on the
remains of the church of S. Siro, with the characteristic bell tower
which partially rests on the rocky outcrop. In medieval times, the
assemblies of the heads of families of the city took place in the small
square in front of it.
Casa Marlianici, dating back to 1667.
Palazzo Bosatta-Carbonera: spread over two internal courtyards. Of
notable interest is the helical staircase with wrought iron railing,
dating back to the restructuring of 1778. The building preserves the
remains of a tower on top of which there was a dovecote.
Casa Maffei:
on the southern facade of the building which overlooks the internal
courtyard, one can observe the elegant loggia with a double arch
arranged on three orders.
Casa Orsini formerly Liebheim, which
preserves the ashlar stones of an ancient tower at an angle.
The rear
facade of Palazzo Sassi-de' Lavizzari, of sixteenth-century origin, now
the seat of the Valtellinese Museum of History and Art.
The name Quadrivio perhaps derives from carrobbio, in relation to the passage and stop of the carts entering the city, which later became quadrobbio and finally quadrivio due to being the intersection of four roads. In the center of the square dominates the characteristic fountain of 1820, obtained from a single block of stone. The square is enclosed by various palaces: to the west Palazzo Paribelli, which preserves traces of a medieval tower, to the south Palazzo Giacconi and Palazzo Sertoli: the annexed chapel (which can be visited) is of notable artistic interest and, above all, the hall of the dances, rococo style. The perspective of the square is closed by a building on the eastern side, where in correspondence with the arch that leads onto via del Gesù, there was the Ponta di Prada gate, the eastern entrance into the medieval walls of the city, which was decorated with the insignia of the Guelphs and of the Capitanei, feudal lords of Sondrio. Via Scarpatetti opens up on the north side of the square.
The city is surrounded by various inhabited areas of modest size,
whose population varies from a few dozen to a few hundred inhabitants.
They are:
Arquino, located 450 meters above sea level, has about 160
inhabitants. It is shared with the municipality of Torre di Santa Maria.
Mossini-Sant'Anna, divided into two districts. Mossini is located on the
opposite side of Ponchiera at the entrance to Valmalenco, while
Sant'Anna is located just above Mossini, near the road to Triangia.
Ponchiera to the north, located at the entrance to the Valmalenco, on
the hydrographic left of the Mallero.
Triangia to the west, located
on top of a natural terrace at the gates of the city.
Triasso rises
to the west of the municipal area on a mountainous ridge above the
locality of Sassella.
Sondrio is Summer. It is an event organized every Thursday evening in the center of Sondrio from the end of June to the beginning of August which includes musical events and tasting of typical products.
1 Follow the matches of the local football team: Sondrio Calcio, Via
Valeriana 33 (Stadio Coni Castellina). It is an amateur sports club from
Sondrio born in 1932. In the 2014-2015 season it plays in group B of
Serie D.
2 Follow the matches of the local rugby team: Sondrio
Sportiva Rugby, Viale dello Stadio / Piazzale Fojanini (Campo Gabriele
Cerri and Stefano Mari). The company was founded in 1962 thanks to
ex-rugby players Pino Donadelli and Mario Bertazzini. He has played in
the Serie B championship since 2008.
By plane
Sondrio does not have airports but is about 170 km from
Milan-Malpensa, which is the second Italian hub after
Rome Fiumicino,
and about 120 km from Orio al Serio.
By car
State and
provincial roads
The state road 38 connects Valtellina with the South
Tyrolean Val Venosta via the Stelvio Pass.
Highways
Sondrio is
not served by the Italian motorway network.
On boat
It is not
possible to reach Sondrio via waterways.
On the train
Sondrio
station. opened in 1885, it is located on the Tirano-Lecco line and is
served only by regional trains.
By bus
The public transport
service that connects Sondrio and the other municipalities is managed by
the STPS company. There are 38 extra-urban lines that cross the towns
near Sondrio:
A1: Sondrio - Morbegno - Chiavenna
A2: Chiavenna -
Colico
A2: Chiavenna - Olmo San Bernardo
A3: Chiavenna - Gordona -
Samolaco
A4: Chiavenna - Campodolcino - Madesimo
A5: Chiavenna -
Villa di Chiavenna
A10: Morbegno - Delebio - Colico
A11: Morbegno
- Traona - Cino - Cercino
A12: Morbegno - Nuova Olonio - Colico
A14: Morbegno - Albaredo
A15: Morbegno - Gerola Alta - Pescegallo
A16: Morbegno - Traona - Civo
A17: Morbegno - Cadelpicco (Roncaglia -
Caspano branch)
A18: Morbegno - Selvetta (Ardenno branch)
A19:
Morbegno - Bema
A20: Morbegno - Ardenno - Val Masino
A21: Morbegno
- Paniga - Desco
A22: Morbegno - Ardenno - Buglio in Monte
A23:
Morbegno - Talamona - Tartano
A31: Sondrio - Berbenno - Ardenno
A32: Sondrio - Castione Andevenno
A33: Sondrio - Poggi Piano
A35:
Sondrio - Triangia - Flat
A36: Sondrio - Church Valmalenco -
Caspoggio
A37: Sondrio - Church Valmalenco - Tornadri
A40: Sondrio
- Spriana
A41: Sondrio - Aprica
A42: Sondrio - Tresivio -
Sant'Antonio
A43: Sondrio - Mountains in Valtellina
A44: Sondrio -
Piateda - Boffetto
A46: Sondrio - Ponte in Valtellina railway station
A47: Sondrio - Faedo Alto
A48: Sondrio - Chiuro - Teglio
A49:
Sondrio - Albosaggia
A50: Sondrio - San Pietro - Colorina Valley
A51: Water Castle - San Giacomo Filippo - Chiuro
A52: Bridge in
Valtellina - Arigna
A64: Sondrio - Tirano
By public transport
The public transport system that serves
Sondrio is managed by Gianolini Servizi e Trasporti srl. There are 6
urban lines active in the municipal area:
Blue Line
Red line
Green Line
Blue line
Yellow line
Gray line
The streets of the historic center host numerous shops and various
bars.
How to have fun
Il Geko Pub Pizzeria, Lungo Mallero Cadorna 12, ☎ +39 0342 200520. Drinks and live music
Average prices
1 Vecchio Mulino Restaurant, Lungo Mallero Armando
Diaz, 33, ☎ +39 0342 219302.
2 Pizzeria Vesuvio, Viale Milano, 2, ☎
+39 0342 514913.
3 Ristorante Pizzeria Il Passatore, Via Trieste, 41,
☎ +39 0342 200404.
4 Il Fastidioso Restaurant, Via Scarpatetti, 42, ☎
+39 0342 211526.
5 Pizzeria Ristorante Vecchia Carbonera, Via
Romegialli, 46, ☎ +39 0342 514794.
6 Trattoria Cima 11, Via
Romegialli, 46, ☎ +39 0342 515040.
Modest prices
1 Panemiele Bed & Breakfast, Via Bonfadini, 23, ☎
+39 389 4331654, info@panemiele.eu.
2 Bed & Breakfast Antica Corte
Parravicini, Via Parravicini, 5, ☎ +39 347 8638732,
info@corteparravicini.com.
3 Bed & Breakfast Cosmea, Via Nani, 4, ☎
+39 347 7110691.
4 Hotel Gembro, Via Bernina, 7, ☎ +39 0342 213081.
One star
Average prices
5 Hotel Europa, Via Lungo Mallero
Cadorna, 27, ☎ +39 0342 515010, info@albergoeuropa.com. Three stars
6
Hotel Schenatti, Via Bernina, 7, ☎ +39 0342 512424,
info@hotelschenatti.it. Three stars
7 Hotel Pirovano Stelvio, Corso
Vittorio Veneto, 7, ☎ +39 0342 515450, info@pirovano.it. Three stars
8 Hotel Campelli, via Moia 6, ☎ +39 0342 510662, info@campelli.it.
3-star hotel 5 minutes from Sondrio in a quiet area, rooms with wi-fi,
the hotel has a restaurant ("La Moia") and parking
High prices
9 Grand Hotel della Posta, Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, 19, ☎ +39 0342
050644, info@grandhoteldellaposta.eu. Four stars
10 Hotel Residence
Piazzi House, Via Giuseppe Piazzi, 78, ☎ +39 0342 350582. Four stars
Carabinieri, Largo Antonio Sertoli, 5, ☎ +39 0342 2211.
Questura,
Via Nazario Sauro, 72, ☎ +39 0342 220111,
urp.quest.so@pecps.poliziadistato.it.
Guardia di Finanza, Via Rota,
29, ☎ +39 0342 212753.
Municipal Police, Piazza Campello 1, ☎ +39
0342 526221, +39 0342 526228.
Fire Brigade, Via Giuliani, 27, ☎ +39
0342 533000.
Emergency room, Via Brennero.
Red Cross, Piazzale
Croce Rossa 1, ☎ +39 0342 511522.
On turnifarmacie.it you can view
the opening days and hours of the city pharmacies.
Post
Poste Italiane, Viale Milano 21, ☎ +39 0342 213528.
Poste
Italiane, Via Trento 2, ☎ +39 0342 515203.
Poste Italiane, Via
Gorizia 33, ☎ +39 0342 215218.
Poste Italiane, Largo Sindelfingen 6,
☎ +39 0342 515357.
The Parco delle Orobie Valtellinesi institutional site. It is a
regional park of Lombardy, established in 1989, which is located south
of Sondrio. With an area of about 46,000 hectares, the park includes the
Valtellina part of the Orobie chain, whose peaks vary between 2,000 m
and 3,000 m above sea level. It includes the portion of the Orobie Alps
located on the southern slope of Valtellina, and is divided into various
tributary valleys which flow from the south to the north towards
Valtellina. Inside the park live several groups of chamois, ibex,
moufflons and marmots. There are also squirrels, weasels and other
varieties of mammals. Among the oviparous birds that can be encountered
are Woodpeckers, Owls, Eagles (towards Val Venina), crows and
capercaillies, depicted among other things in the emblem of the park.
Near Sondrio is the municipality of Castione Andevenno. In the
Iperal mall and just outside the center you can find two chain
restaurants: a McDonald's and a Roadhouse, which are quite affordable.
The
Stelvio
National Park institutional site. It is located 60 km from Sondrio.
established in 1935, it is one of the oldest Italian natural parks. It
was created with the aim of protecting the flora, fauna and the beauty
of the landscape of the Ortles-Cevedale mountain group, and to promote
the development of sustainable tourism in the Alpine valleys of
Lombardy, Trentino and Alto Adige. It extends over the territory of 24
municipalities and 4 provinces and is in direct contact to the north
with the Swiss National Park, to the south with the Adamello-Brenta
Provincial Natural Park and with the Adamello Regional Park: all these
parks together constitute a vast protected area in the heart of the
Alps, covering almost 400,000 hectares. The park includes a wide variety
of morphological and ecosystems, with large differences in altitude
(from 650 m a.s.l. to 3900 m a.s.l. of the glacier peaks). You can
therefore find deer, chamois, roe deer, ibexes, marmots, foxes, stoats,
squirrels, hares, and even badgers and weasels. There have been
sightings of wolves, lynxes and even bears from the nearby
Adamello-Brenta provincial park. Numerous species of birds nest in the
park area: ptarmigan, partridge, chough, raven, jackdaw, woodpecker,
black grouse, hazel grouse, buzzard, sparrowhawk, owl, golden eagle and,
thanks to a successful and precious reintroduction project, the bearded
vulture. Many animals find refuge there and it is also thanks to the
natural park that some endangered species are protected and cared for.
Sondrio is part of the Strada del Vino e dei Sapori della Valtellina, a
route for the promotion of food and wine tourism, about 200 kilometers
long and recognized by the Lombardy Region, which winds through the
Sondrio Valtellina over an area of 78 municipalities, touching among
these: Montespluga, Madesimo , Chiavenna, Colico, Lecco, Morbegno,
Ardenno, Postalesio, Chiesa in Valmalenco, Teglio, Aprica, Tirano,
Grosio, Bormio and Livigno.
Foliage in Lombardy — In autumn, in
search of the dazzling and spectacular phenomenon of "foliage".
The city of Sondrio has Longobard origins, even if prehistoric and
Roman remains have been found in its territory. Its oldest name is
Sondrium which means land worked directly by the owner.
Like all
of Valtellina, in Roman times, the territory of Sondrio belonged to the
municipality of Como.
During the barbarian invasions and even
later it was a place of refuge for fugitives, especially from the Po
Valley, who brought new and more perfected technical knowledge for the
cultivation of the land and for the processing of wood, wool, stones and
metals. Soon a castle arose from which a feudal lord, in the name of the
bishop of Como, dominated the whole parish, which included almost all of
the Valmalenco and some nearby lands even beyond the Adda.
In 1040 Henry III of Franconia granted the parish church of Sondrio
to the Capitanei family originally from Vizzola and in this period the
castle of San Giorgio (now the monastery of San Lorenzo) and Castel
Masegra were built.
Despite the investiture and the events of the
early Low Middle Ages closely linked to those of the Empire, the
political preferences of the Capitanei family, to their detriment, had
always been on the Guelph side; so that, in the second half of the
thirteenth century, the lords of Sondrio rapidly became enemies of the
powerful Rusca or Rusconi family from Como. In 1292 the city was
conquered and the ground razed, the retaliation also extended to
Valmalenco where, in a battle that took place at the Caspoggio hill, the
Capitanei castle was completely destroyed.
The misadventures of
Sondrio continued in 1304, where it was conquered and again destroyed by
the Rusconi. However, the Capitanei family stubbornly returned to the
ruins of their fortress and set about rebuilding it, committing the
grave mistake of still erecting it in the same spot, formerly in the
place of the current district of Mossini, evidently not very defensible.
This was done in a short time, so much so that the citadel was fortified
again towards the end of 1307.
In 1310 the Capitanei's old
enemies from Como undertook a new raid, attacking Sondrio and fatally
destroying it for the third time: the reason was that the survivors of
the Guelph Vitani family, enemies and fellow citizens of the Rusconi,
had found refuge there. This was too much for the Capitanei family, who
finally decided to rebuild the city in a safer position; in just eight
years the foundations of the current historic center of Sondrio would
have been laid: the lords of that period, Egidio, Ruggero and Corrado,
in 1318 had strong and imposing palisades erected, imitating the model
of the previous city. Between 1318 and 1325 Tebaldo and Corrado
Capitanei conveniently replaced them with significant and definitive
fortified masonry works, to which construction the Malenco vassals
contributed distinctly.
The walls, headed by the reinforced
Castel Masegra, extended around the city lying at the mouth of the
Valmalenco, on the left bank of the Mallero, in the place today called
Scarpatetti, a natural ditch in the usual direction of enemy attacks;
three gates opened in the fortified walls: one to the north called Porta
del Mallero which led into the Valmalenco caravan road; one on the
Montagna side in Valtellina, located at the historic Piazza Quadrivio
called Porta di Prada and the Porta del Cugnolo, facing west. A fourth
gate was later erected in and was called Porta di Foppa. In addition,
the Capitanei in the meantime rebuilt the castle previously destroyed by
the Rusconi at Caspoggio.
In 1329 the Ghibellines from Milan and
Como led by Franchino Rusca attacked Sondrio again and were able to
clash for the first time with the new robust walls of the Capitanei; the
assailants preferred to lay siege and, unlike the previous times, they
were not able to conquer the city with the same ease. The siege lasted
for a whole year, the defenders were worn down by hunger and disease;
the only source of livelihood for the encircled city was through the
Muretto Pass in Valmalenco, but nevertheless it was only a matter of
some food aid. In July 1330 the besieged, given the precarious
circumstances, hastily decided to leave the walls in force with the
intention of facing the enemy in an open field, reporting a decisive
defeat which marked the beginning of the brief vassalage by the Rusconi.
In 1335 Sondrio fell together with Como and the whole Valtellina
into the hands of the lordship of Milan of Azzone Visconti, who in 1336
went up the valley to extinguish the last outbreaks of Guelph
resistance. In the same year he granted to Tebaldo Capitanei, survivor
of the siege of the Rusconi, the title of Capitaneus Vallistelline with
the Platonic qualification of "governors of Valtellina", a title however
absolutely meaningless as demonstrated by the choice made by the
Visconti to move his residence to the valley to Castel Grumello, seat of
the Ghibelline family of the Piri or De Piro; located in the current
municipality of Montagna in Valtellina, it was a real eagle's nest above
Sondrio.
The Visconti oppression continued in 1350 with the
launch of a fiscal operation with the application of very heavy taxes
and levies, this greatly contributed to fueling the discontent of the
Sondriese, however from 1363 the Visconti undertook reform policies
towards the Valtellinesi: the valley was divided into three
administrative districts, the Terziere di Sotto, the Terziere di Mezzo
and the Terziere di Sopra. Sondrio became the capital of the Terziere di
Mezzo.
The year 1370 saw Tebaldo Capitanei protagonist of the
revolt of the Valtellinese Guelphs against the Milanese Ghibellines;
supported mainly by the Beccaria family of Tresivio, not to be confused
with the more famous Beccaria family of Pavia, and by numerous other
pro-Papist families. The insurgents ferociously attacked numerous
Visconti military possessions, so that Galeazzo II Visconti's
counterattack was relatively immediate. Sondrio suffered three long
years of siege; in addition, the Milanese, garrisoning the Arquino gorge
(fraction of Sondrio), blocked any form of contact with the Valmalenco
and sustenance from the Muretto Pass. During the clashes, the castle of
the Capitanei at Dosso di Caspoggio was conquered by the Ghibelline
faction. In 1373 Tebaldo Capitanei surrendered leaving Castel Masegra
keeping his arms and insignia; the Visconti, unable to get to grips with
the situation, granted the honor of arms to the vanquished.
In
1430 Francesco Antonio Capitanei, nephew of Tebaldo, was one of the
leaders of the party in favor of the administration of the Valtellina to
the Republic of Venice, always to the detriment of the Visconti. The
struggle for control of the valley ended in 1432 with the victory of the
Milanese at Delebio, led by Niccolò Piccinino and Stefano Quadrio, head
of the Valtellinese Ghibellines, against the Venetians. In 1436
Francesco Antonio Capitanei died without male heirs, his only daughter
Giacomina transferred the ownership of the lordship to the Beccarias of
Tresivio, marrying Antonio Beccaria; later the city passed into the
hands of the Grisons house of Salis.
In 1450 Sondrio, like the
rest of the Valtellina, submitted to Francesco Sforza, the new duke of
Milan.
In 1463 a violent flood of the Mallero stream seriously
damaged the city, causing casualties and damage.
On 22 July 1512, after a decade of French rule, Sondrio was occupied
by the troops of the Three Leagues descending from the Muretto Pass,
Valtellina became a subject of the Grisons, who moved the seat of
government from Tresivio to the current capital.
In 1523 seven
witches, accused of having intentionally possessed demons, were led to
the stake in Piazza Campello, where the city cemetery once stood.
In August 1526 a plague hit the city and some surrounding villages,
causing 300 deaths. The latter and other previous evil spells, such as
the anomalous red rain that occurred on 15 October 1515 in Val Malenco,
were attributed by the contemporary Sondrians to the diffusion of the
Lutheran religion at the hands of the Grisons, accused of having
"brought the devil to the valley ".
In 1541 yet another flood of
the Mallero damaged the city.
In 1584, in response to the
episcopal visit of the Archbishop of Milan Carlo Borromeo to the
Sanctuary of the Madonna of Tirano, the Reformed attempted to build a
Protestant seminary in Sondrio but had to come up against the energetic
opposition of the archpriest Giovanni Giacomo Pusterla who, imprisoned
and tortured, he saved his life only by managing to escape.
In
the summer of 1589 the Bishop of Como Feliciano Ninguarda reached
Sondrio and compiled a religious census of the inhabitants of the city,
of the districts and of the Quadre of Val Malenco.
In 1618 the
Grisons attempted to create a Protestant seminary in Sondrio and for the
second time the clear opposition was by the Ticino archpriest Nicolò
Rusca. During the night of 17 July, the Protestant preacher from Val
Malenco Marc'Antonio Alba, a native of Casale Monferrato, arrived in
Sondrio with a group of 60 armed men from the Engadine and surrounded
the house of Rusca who was taken prisoner. On September 4, Nicolò Rusca
died tortured in Thusis.
In 1620 the bloody revolt of the
Catholics of Valtellina began against the Grisons led by the pro-Spanish
party led by Giacomo Robustelli, already on 16 July the palace in
Sondrio of the Protestant chancellor Giovanni Andrea Mingardino was
surrounded, but the real insurrection began on 18 July when the Grisons
governor in Valtellina, Giovanni Andrea Travers, was sent as a prisoner
to Chiesa in Val Malenco. On July 19, the Sondrio Catholic Giovanni
Guicciardi had 18 Protestants killed by his men in the areas between
Montagna and Chiuro, subsequently gathered in Albosaggia together with
other leaders of the revolt and surrounded Sondrio. The rioters, having
entered the city, massacred the Reformed even if many managed to escape
via the Muretto Pass; the number of victims in Sondrio stands at between
140 and 180, the highest of the Valtellina inhabited centers of the
Sacred Slaughterhouse. A total of 350 to 600 deaths are estimated
throughout the valley.
Between 26 and 27 July, the Graubünden
colonel Battista Salis descended from the Muretto Pass towards Sondrio
but, after a brief skirmish, was rejected by the garrison of Azzo Besta
near the district of Primolo in Val Malenco. On 1 August, a thousand men
commanded by Colonel Johannes Guler von Wyneck broke through the Malenco
lines, abandoned by Besta, and on 2 August they occupied the Porta del
Mallero in Sondrio, on 5 August the revolt was put down. However, the
conspiratorial leaders locked up in Albosaggia with the Paribelli nobles
asked for help from the Governor of Milan, the Duke of Feria, who
mobilized his troops in Valtellina against the Grisons. On 15 August the
Grisons withdrew from Sondrio.
During the Treaty of Madrid of 25
April 1621, stipulated between King Philip IV of Spain and Louis XIII of
France, with the extraordinary mediation of Pope Gregory XV, the total
restitution of the Valtellina to the Three Leagues was established,
however in June 1623 to the The Spaniards were replaced by a papal
garrison of 1,500 infantry and 500 cavalry when Pope Gregory XV
intervened to find a compromise solution to the conflict which had
broken out between France and Spain for control of the "Valtellina
corridor". The attempt at mediation having failed, the League of
Avignon, promoted in the Treaty of Paris by France, Venice and Savoy,
attempted to recover the Valtellina from the Grisons allies by arms.
In November 1624 the army of the League, led by the Marquis of
Cœuvres, conquered Tirano and in January 1625 it also took possession of
Castel Masegra. In 1629 the imperial lansquenets also descended in
Valtellina on their way to Mantua, followed by the disastrous plague
which reduced the population of the capital to a third.
Between
1635 and 1637 the duke of Rohan became master of the valley following
four victories over the Spanish. On 3 September 1639 the Capitolate of
Milan decreed the return of the Graubünden domination.
During the
17th century, the Capuchin convent, the church of Suffragio and that of
the Guardian Angel were built in the city, while some houses in the
village were rebuilt.
In 1672, a witch nicknamed "Orsolina del
Cedrasco" was burned at the stake in Sondrio, of whom we have little
information.
The eighteenth century was rather burdensome because numerous
expenses had to be faced, such as those for the damage caused by the
numerous floods and those for the erection of the Collegiate Church and
the bell tower by the architect and fellow citizen Pietro Ligari.
Nonetheless, Sondrio, like the rest of the Valtellina, experienced a
century of tranquillity.
On 19 June 1797, following the Italian
campaign undertaken by Napoleon Bonaparte, the General Council of Valle
decided to detach itself from the Grisons and to ask Bonaparte to be
able to join the Cisalpine Republic. On 22 June of the same year there
was the official annexation, and the village became the capital of the
Adda and Oglio Department and subsequently, at the end of the Austrian
domination, in June 1800, it became the seat of a vice-prefecture of the
Lario Department.
In 1809 in Sondrio there is news of an
insurrection organized by the peasants of Montagna in Valtellina against
the French rulers, following the troops of General MacDonald stationed
in the valley passing through Aprica. The peasants were beaten in a
skirmish and forced to flee.
With the passage to Austrian
domination, which took place in 1814, Sondrio was placed at the head of
the province of the same name and on 31 October 1839, following the
decree of Emperor Ferdinand I, the village rose to the rank of royal
city. During this period there was a notable demographic increase, which
led to a development of the town, especially towards the south, with
which the current Piazza Garibaldi was built, then dedicated to the
Kaiser.
Between 1815 and 1830 the Via dello Stelvio was built,
already designed by Napoleon, which still today crosses the Valtellina
horizontally. Here originates the Via Stelvio, the eastern road artery
of the city.
On 27 August 1834, a flood of the Mallero violently
broke through the left bank of the stream, demolishing thirty houses,
then overturned to the right, destroying another eight.
In 1838
the Cariplo, the savings bank of the Lombard provinces, began its
activity in the capital.
In 1845 Sondrio regained the body of the
archpriest Nicolò Rusca from Switzerland 277 years after his execution,
his bones were temporarily deposited in the Sanctuary of Sassella.
In 1859 the Austrians reappeared in Valtellina, trying again to
reconquer it through the Stelvio Pass, the Valtellina, helped by the
troops of the Savoy general Enrico Cialdini drove out the invaders,
albeit suffering losses. To celebrate the victory, Giuseppe Garibaldi
arrived in Sondrio with a group of Alpine hunters on 26 June of the same
year, welcomed by popular enthusiasm.
In 1861 the first
provincial newspaper appeared in Sondrio, "La Valtellina", and in 1864
the Male Workers' Society was founded, followed by the female one. In
1870 the Valtellinese Enological Society was founded and in 1871 the
Banca Popolare di Sondrio.
An important event of the century was
the inauguration of the Colico-Sondrio stretch of railway on 16 June
1885, which opened the province to commerce, tourism and cultural
exchanges. In 1895 he opened the Spelti, Keller & C. cotton mill, which
gave work to many women.
In 1902 the Sondrio-Tirano railway was completed which marked the
disappearance of the old stagecoaches, while in 1908 the Banca Piccolo
Credito Valtellinese was founded in the capital.
The First World
War also weighed heavily on Sondrio and the church of San Rocco was used
as a military hospital. Despite the considerable difficulties it faced,
the city was able to develop equally. Following the flood of 1927,
numerous buildings were rebuilt, such as the Palazzo della Provincia,
designed by Giovanni Muzio, and the Monument to the Fallen with the
adjoining sports field.
Sondrio Calcio was founded in 1932 from
the merger of Unione Sportiva Sondrio and Sport Club Sondrio, the two
clubs that until then had carried on football practice in the Valtellina
capital.
During the Second World War Sondrio suffered a period of
famine, on April 27, 1945 at 19:30 a column of partisans who came down
from Val Malenco surrounded Sondrio, occupied by the forces of the
Italian Social Republic, in the night there were however light clashes.
On the morning of April 28, the Sondrio garrison surrendered to the
partisan forces.
After 1945 the city developed rapidly,
especially on the outskirts with the construction of new districts. The
historic center, modest but significant, suffered numerous damages in
this period, even if a significant recovery action is still underway.
With a municipal area of 20.88 km² and approximately 21 500 inhabitants, Sondrio is the least extensive and the least populous of the 109 Italian provincial capitals. It rises in the middle Valtellina at the confluence of the Mallero stream with the Adda, at the gates of Valmalenco, under the Corna Mara massif. The city is the main center of the area.
The climate of the city, like the rest of the valley floor, is
continental, with cold winters and hot summers. Frequent rainfall even
in the summer season. During the winter, the average daily temperature
is generally around 0.9°C. The minimums between November and March are
almost always below zero, with peaks of up to -15 °C during arctic
irruptions from the east or north. Snowfalls are frequent (the average
snowfall is around 45 cm per year with a permanence on the ground of
about 45-50 days). Rain from the end of November to February is rare and
rainfall is mainly snow, but it can occasionally happen that
particularly humid winds or sirocco winds associated with Atlantic
perturbations bring rain and temperatures between 2 °C and 4 °C (often
in the evening the rain turns to snow).
Even in winter, however,
temperatures can be high thanks to foehn winds, capable of raising the
temperature up to 15-16 °C in January and 17-18 °C in February, however
with insignificant humidity levels (15-18 °C 30%).
Spring is
generally unstable, in March the first sunny periods with pleasant
temperatures (12-14 °C maximum) alternate with sudden returns of the
cold, with abundant late snowfalls and the mercury column which can
return a few degrees below zero.
From mid-April, 20 °C can be
reached but the succession of Atlantic perturbations can bring abundant
rains and temperatures of 9-12 °C. Also in this period, a sprinkle of
snow in case of heavy rains associated with cold winds from the north is
not excluded, which however generally lasts a short time on the ground.
From May, temperatures rise significantly: in the afternoons in the
middle of the month, temperatures can reach 25-27 °C, while maintaining
decidedly cool temperatures in the morning (10-12 °C). The first heat
storms begin to make their way this month.
During the summer,
from June to August, it is on average hot: usually 31-32 °C are reached
in maximum, which can become 34-35 °C during the rare days of the
African anticyclone. However, the arrival of thunderstorms and hail can
lower temperatures by 10-15 °C. The so-called "tropical nights" with
night-time temperatures above 25 °C which often occur in the big cities,
in Sondrio and in the rest of the valley, are very rare or even
impossible, since even in the event of an anticyclone the temperatures
at night never exceed i 18-19 °C.
At the end of August, however,
the heat peaks are no longer reached and from mid-August usually the
27-29 °C are not exceeded.
In September, also thanks to the
decrease in the hours of light and the first strong perturbations, the
temperatures reach a maximum of 23-24 °C (which can become 16-17 °C in
case of rain) and 9-10 °C minimal.
October is a very pleasant
month if it is sunny even if the 20 °C is no longer reached but a
maximum of 17 °C in the first half of the month and 13 °C in the second
half, but it can be very cold in case of rain (snow is rare but not
impossible).
November is now a cold month, it begins to snow and
the minimums go below zero. (-3/−4 °C and the maximum temperatures do
not go beyond 6 °C).
In december, the month with fewer hours of
light, the climate is very harsh. The average of the minimum
temperatures is −4 °C but on some days they touch -7/−9 °C and the
maximum daytime temperatures often do not exceed -1/+0 °C also because,
due to the presence of the Orobie Alps south of the city, in Sondrio on
21 December the city remains illuminated by the weak rays of the sun
only from 11:00 to 14:00.
Streets
The city can be reached via the Stelvio state road 38,
which runs along the bottom of the Valtellina valley; crossing the urban
center is avoided by the Tangenziale di Sondrio, a fast-flowing road
built in the early 1990s. Provincial road 15 starts from Sondrio and
connects the city with the tourist resorts of Valmalenco. Also from
Sondrio starts the so-called "Panoramic road of the castles", which runs
through the hillside towns on the Rhaetian side east of the city, until
it reaches Teglio. This road offers a suggestive itinerary between
fortifications, towers, churches, vineyards, apple orchards and a
beautiful view over the whole valley floor and the Orobic mountain
range.
Railways
Sondrio station, opened in 1885, is located on
the Tirano-Lecco line, served by regional trains and RegioExpress.
The Lecco-Sondrio railway line was the first in Italy to be
electrified using high voltage three-phase alternating current for train
traction. On October 15, 1902, trains with overhead power lines at 3,600
volts, 15 Hz began operation.
The largest local football club was Sondrio: founded in 1932 and
dissolved in 2020, it boasts some participations in Serie C as the
greatest result in its history.
In volleyball, both at the
women's and men's level, it is historically worth noting the homonymous
club in the capital, Asd Nuova Sondrio Sportiva Volley, which boasts in
its palmares the participation in women's series D and men's series C
championships, as well as victory in the PGS championship (Polisportive
Giovanili Salesiane) at a world level. The men's and women's youth
sector is also relevant.
As for XV rugby, the capital of
Valtellina expresses the Rugby Sondrio Amateur Cooperative Society,
founded in 1962.
The city of Sondrio has hosted some stages of
the Giro d'Italia:
May 17, 1939: for the first time Sondrio is the
site of a stage. The Trento-Sondrio, 18th of the 27th Giro d'Italia, was
won by the Piedmontese Giovanni Valetti.
June 5, 1980: the
Cles-Sondrio, 20th stage of the 63rd Giro d'Italia, sees the victory of
the Frenchman Jean-René Bernaudeau.
June 8, 1992: the Palazzolo
sull'Oglio-Sondrio, 15th stage of the 75th Giro d'Italia ended with the
victory of Marco Saligari.
25 May 2011: the arrival of the
Feltre-Sondrio, seventeenth stage of the 94th Giro d'Italia was
scheduled, but on 1 April 2011 the arrival was moved to Tirano for
safety reasons not guaranteed at the finish line in the capital.