Sondrio (; ; ; archaic or ; ) is an Italian city, ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' and administrative centre for 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 ...

, located in the heart of the

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 ...

. , Sondrio counted approximately 21,876 inhabitants. In 2007, Sondrio was named the Alpine Town of the Year.

History

Formerly an

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

military camp, today's Sondrio was founded by the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

: in their language ''Sundrium'' meant "Exclusive property", referring to the status of free men ('' arimanni'') of the holders of the city and the surrounding land. After the fall of the

Lombard Kingdom The Kingdom of the Lombards, also known as the Lombard Kingdom and later as the Kingdom of all Italy (), was an Early Middle Ages, early medieval state established by the Lombards, a Germanic people, on the Italian Peninsula in the latter part ...

in Italy, Sondrio became part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. The Capitanei of Vizzola, who controlled much of the Valtellina, had it in 1040 from the emperor

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

. From 1310 to 1335 the city was involved in the war between the

Guelph and Ghibelline The Guelphs and Ghibellines ( , ; ) were factions supporting the Pope (Guelphs) and the Holy Roman Emperor (Ghibellines) in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy during the Middle Ages. During the 12th and 13th centurie ...

factions of the nearby

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

, and its war against

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. After having resisted several attacks by the Comaschi, in 1335 Sondrio and Valtellina became part of the Visconti Milanese dominions. From the second half of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century, Sondrio was governed by the Tre Leghe Grigie ("Three Grey Leagues") of the

Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...

, as the capital city of

. After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, Sondrio was the centre of heavy struggles between the Catholic Valtellinesi and the Protestant Grisons. In 1620 the citizens, led by Giacomo Robustelli, killed 180 Protestants and declared the independence of the Valtellina. After the Napoleonic parenthesis, in which it became part of the

Cisalpine Republic The Cisalpine Republic (; ) was a sister republic or a client state of France in Northern Italy that existed from 1797 to 1799, with a second version until 1802. Creation After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte organized two ...

(later

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

), Sondrio with the Valtellina was annexed to the Austrian

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia (), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" (; ), was a constituent land (crown land) of the Austrian Empire from 1815 to 1866. It was created in 1815 by resolution of the Congress of Vienna in recogniti ...

, and fought gallantly for its independence.

Geography

The town is located in the middle of the province, and borders with the municipalities of Albosaggia, Caiolo, Castione Andevenno, Faedo Valtellino, Montagna in Valtellina, Spriana and Torre di Santa Maria. Its hamlets (''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'') are Arquino, Colda, Gualtieri, Ligari, Moroni, Mossini, Ponchiera, Sant'Anna, Sassella, Triangia and Triasso.

Government

Economy

The territory of Sondrio has numerous vineyards; wines produced include the Sassella and Grumello. Wine represents one of the main resources of this region, together with tourism, especially in winter. Another important piece of Sondrio's economy is its banking industry, with the Banca Popolare di Sondrio and the

Credito Valtellinese Credito Valtellinese (known as Creval) was an Italian bank based in Sondrio (in Lombardy, Italy) prior to its acquisition by Crédit Agricole Italia in 2021. The company was a former component of FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index of the Borsa Italiana ...

both headquartered in Sondrio and listed on the

Milan Stock Exchange Borsa Italiana () or Borsa di Milano (), based in Milan at Mezzanotte Palace, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervi ...

Main sights

The heart of Sondrio is its central Garibaldi Square. Not far from it is the Palazzo Sassi, home of the Art and History Museum of Valtellina. In a dominant position, near the ancient road to the Valmalenco, linking the town to Switzerland, stands the Masegra Castle, housing the Historical Museum of the Grisons Domination. The church of Santi Gervasio e Protasio rebuilt in Neoclassical-style in 1838, was built in the 12th century as a Romanesque

pieve In Italy in the Middle Ages, a ''pieve'' (, ; ; : ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. ''Pieve'' is also an Italian and Corsican term signifying the medieval ecclesiastical/a ...

and

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

. Other sights include the Torre Ligariana, once the collegiate's bell tower, and the Palazzo Pretorio, once the seat of the Grisons government. Across the railway in direction of

there is the ancient Church of Maria della Sassella, which the local tradition dates back to the 10th century. In March 2021 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Como declared the church to be a diocesan Marian sanctuary.

People

* Giovanni Pietro Ligario (1686–1748), painter * Antonio Caimi (1814–1878), painter *

Enrico Sertoli Enrico Sertoli (June 6, 1842, Sondrio – January 28, 1910, Sondrio) was an Italian physiologist, histologist, anatomist, biologic chemist, physician, teacher, and inventor. He is remembered for his discovery regarding the Branched cell, branche ...

(1842–1910), physiologist and histologist * Antonio Carini (1872–1950), physician, bacteriologist and professor * Primo H. Zopatti (1878-1934), entrepreneur America, Zopatti Bros., Dorchester. * Pier Luigi Nervi (1891–1979), engineer * Valerio Ricetti (1898—1952), Italian-Australian hermit * Gianni Celati (1937–2022), writer, translator and literary critic * Sophia Zopatti Lewis (b.1941), Olympic dressage hunter/jumper Rome 1960 * Giulio Tremonti (b. 1947), politician * Benedetto Della Vedova (b. 1962), politician * Raffaella "Raffy" Rossi (b. 1974), ski mountaineer and skyrunner * Luca Colombo (b. 1984), football player * Matteo D'Alessandro (b. 1989), football player * Robert Antonioli (b. 1990), ski mountaineer * Michele Boscacci (b. 1990), ski mountaineer * Arianna Fontana (b. 1990), short track speed skater * Lorenzo Passerini (b. 1991), conductor

Twin towns – sister cities

Sondrio is twinned with: *

Radovljica Radovljica (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Slovenia, town in the Upper Carniola region of northern Slovenia. It is the administrative seat of the Municipality of Radovljica. Geography The town is located on the southern slope of the Karawan ...

, Slovenia * São Mateus, Brazil * Sindelfingen, Germany

Sports

Sondrio Calcio is the football club of the city and currently plays in

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

Climate

References

External links

Official website

Sondrio weather website
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Lombardy