11 Facts About Chiavenna

Chiavenna is a comune in the Province of Sondrio in the northern Italian region of Lombardy.

Chiavenna is located about 100 kilometres north of Milan and about 40 kilometres northwest of Sondrio.

Municipality of Chiavenna contains the frazioni Campedello, Loreto, Pianazzola, and San Carlo.

Name of Chiavenna, believed to derive by paretymology from clavis referring to its pivotal position on the mountain passes between Northern Italy and the Posterior Rhine valley, comes in reality from a much older, pre-Latin etymon klava, meaning fallen rocks of a mountain slip.

Clavenna probably derived some importance from its position at the junction of the two pass roads, as does the modern town of Chiavenna, which is the chief town of the surrounding district.

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The citizens of Chiavenna received town privileges from the Como bishops in 1030.

Chiavenna is crowned by a ruined castle, once an important strategic point, and the seat of the counts who ruled the valley from the time of the Goths till 1194, when the district was handed over to the Bishops of Chur.

Two years later, the forces of the Chur bishops advanced across the Alpine crest into the Val Bregaglia and by 1194, Chiavenna was incorporated into the Upper Raetian territories of the Duchy of Swabia.

Nevertheless, Chiavenna was conquered by the Leagues's forces during the War of the League of Cambrai, when they allied with the Swiss Confederacy defeating the French troops of King Louis XII at the 1513 Battle of Novara.

Together with the Valtellina and Bormio, the Chiavenna estates became bailiwicks governed by the Three Leagues.

Chiavenna could serve in the imperial army, become an officer, accede to the higher administration, and be ennobled.