Valtellina

The Valtelline, a long valley (some 120 km) in the south of Graubünden, roughly corresponds to the valley of the river Adda, which rises near the Stelvio Pass and flows into Lake Como.

The Adda River, in fact, is one of the longest in Italy, with 313km of course. It flows out at the south-eastern tip of Lake Como and flows into the Po at Castelnuovo Bocca d'Adda, between Piacenza and Cremona.

Narrow and steep, the Upper Valtellina rises to the north-east as far as Bormio, from where it is possible to take the Stelvio Pass to South Tyrol and the Umbrail Pass to Switzerland. The Lower Valtellina widens and descends gently in an almost straight line towards the west and Lake Como.

In between, at Tirano, a Swiss valley rises to the northwest. This is the Valposchiavo, where the spectacular Bernina railway line runs from Chur through St. Moritz to the Valtellina.

The Valtellina is also a gastronomic destination. Everyone knows about bresaola, its famous IGP dried beef, but there are other delicious regional products, such as IGP apples, honey, DOP cheese and, above all, wines (DOC and DOCG), produced mainly with the nebbiolo grape.