Autonomous Province of Bozen - South Tyrol – Abteilung Generic

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Romansh villages

The Canton Grisons is the most eastern canton of Switzerland and it also is the most extensive. The Grisons cover the whole south-eastern part of Switzerland andit is mostly marked by a mountainous landscape and by valleys.
The alpine landscape with the high mountains has decisively marked the structure of the settlements and the culture. Before the development of tourism in the 19th century most villages were considerably smaller than today. Still nowadays there is no Romansh municipality in the Grisons with more than 3000 inhabitants.
The traditional Romansh-speaking territory consists of five linguistic regions. Surselva (the region along the Vorderrhein) covers the large north-western sector. In the central parts, Romansh was once spoken almost along all the Hinterrhein, but today it is only spoken in some parts of the Schons Valley, in Surmeir (Oberhalbstein) and in the Albula Valley. The central parts Domleschg/Tumleastga and Heinzenberg/Mantogna cannot be considered a part of the Romansh-speaking territory anymore. Engadin and the Val Müstair along the Inn form the south-eastern part of the Romansh-speaking territory.
The river basin of the Vorderrhein, from the springs to the confluence with the Hinterrhein in Reichenau, is called Surselva. Since the densely wooded deposits of the Flims landslide decisively breaks the Oberland from a geographical point of view, the area is furthermore divided in Sutselva (below the wood) and Surselva (above the wood). The upper part of Surselva starts at the deeply notched Val Russein. This valley divides the old Roman cultivated land with Sumvitg (summus vicus), the “highest village”, from the upper part of the valley which was uninhabited before the construction of the Disentis monastery at the beginning of the 8th century.
The Schons Valley is annexed to Sutselva. The strongly germanised valley stretches over the drainage basin of the Hinterrhein, from the mouth of the Reno di Lei to the Via-Mala Gorge.
Oberhalbstein (Surses) has its name from a narrow pass, the ‘Crap Ses’, which is called ‘stone’ (Stein). With the Julier Pass it represents one of the most important transit routes of  the Grisons (Oberhalbstein – Upper Engadin). The traffic over the passes has always had a remarkable influence and various effects on the landscape and its changes. The many ruins of castles and fortified towers give evidence of the importance of this route.
The Albula Valley is very similar to the neighbouring Oberhalbstein, but it is less densely populated. The reason for the sparse population lies in the relief structure; the Albula Valley is namely much narrower than Oberhalbstein. The Albula Valley and Surses form the catchment area of Surmiran, one of the five Rhaeto-Romansh idioms.
Upper Engadin is annexed to the Albula Valley. The drainage basin of the Inn, from the spring to Punt Ota (an old road bridge between Cinuos-chel and Brail) is called Upper Engadin. Below Punt Ota there is Lower Engadin. Punt Ota also represents the language boundary between the two idioms Puter (Upper Engadin) and Vallader (Lower Engadin). The alpine landscape of Upper Engadin displays a remarkable amount of three-thousand- metre mountains. The highest peak is Piz Bernina (4049 m).
Lower Engadin is the continuation of Upper Engadin towards the North-East. The valley descends from Punt Ota (1560 m) to Schalkhof (1010 m) below Finstermünz, where the Inn marks the border to Tyrol. Towards the South, annexed to Lower Engadin, there is Val Müstair and in the square area between Zernez – Schanf – Ofenpass – Scuol, there is the Swiss National Park.