val di Blenio

The Val di Blenio has an old history of alp transit. The valley with its roads over the Passo del Sole, Greina and Diesrut Pass, is among the Alpine routes that have been used for centuries. This part of history can still be experienced, because there is many archaeological sites and many monuments from different times. Already in Roman times the valley served as an important transit axis through the alps.

Prosperity, poverty and migration are all issues related to the history of alp transit. Migration is a important part of history of the Val di Blenio. People like Carlo Gatti or like Ernesto and Alfonso Cima were born in the Val di Blenio, emigrated because of poverty and came back to the valley as rich people.

Nowadays the valley is located in between two major North-South connection through the alps, the Gotthard connection to the west and the San Bernardino connection to the east. For the Valle di Blenio, crossing the alps is not so important anymore as the train line and the car highway follow the other valleys. Without large transport infrastructure and powerful industrial companies, the Val di Blenio today feels almost idyllic. But still the Lukmanier Pass leads from the Val di Blenio to Disentis/Sedrun in Graubueünden’s Vorderrhein Valley (Lower Rhine Valley). The pass is open all year, winter and summer.