VALTELLVNA, a longitudinal valley on the Italian side of the Ithutian Alps, drained In its whole length by the river Adda. The Adds rises at the foot of the Stilfser Joch, crosses the district of Bormio, which lies east of Valtellina, and then entering Valtel line at the defile of La Serra, flows in a general direction from north east to south-west until it enters the lake of Como at the western extremity of the valley. Valtellina Proper is about 45 miles in length, but if we include Bernal°, which is a continuation of the same valley, the whole length is 55 miles. It is bounded N. by the Swiss mutton of the Orisons, the main ridge of the Ithsetian Alps dividing the valley of the Adds from that of the Inn, or Engadin ; N.H. by the Tyrol, from which it is separated by the lofty group of the Ortler and the Stilfser Joch; S. by the Austrian provinces of Brescia and Como ; and W. by the lake of Como and by the district of Chiavenna, with which it is politically united. Chiavenna consists mainly of the valley of the Lire, a stream which rises at the foot of the Splugen, and flowing from north to south joins the Maira, which comes from the Orisons country. A few miles lower the united stream enters the Laghetto, or Upper Lake of Como. From the Splugen to the lake is a distance of about twenty miles. The three districts of Valtellina, Bormio, and Chiavenna have been for ages united under the same administration, and now form the Austrian province of Sondrio. Valtellina proper le the largest and finest part of the whole : it has a genial climate and a fertile moll. 'rho heat is very great in summer. All the fruit-trees of Italy thrive there. It produces abundance of wino, Indian corn, millet, and wheat. It has excellent pastures and meadow-land, and its cheese rivals the best made in Lombardy. The slopes of the lower hills along the northern side of the valley are covered with vines planted in terraces. The level land along the banks of the Adds is
not more than a mile and • half In breadth, the mountains rising gradually on both sides and forming numerous transverse valleys between their offsets. The Val Peachlavo and the Val Bregaglia how ever belong to the canton of the Orisons. The southern ridge, which Popamtes the Valtellina from the province of Brescia, is a lower offset I of the Rhretian Alps, which detaches itself from the Ortler-Spitz, and runs in a south-west direction towards the Lake of Como. Its prin cipal summit is Monte Leguone, about 8000 feet above the sea. The , district of being more elevated than Valtelliva, is colder and ' less fertile. [Bonuto.) The northern part of the district of Chiaveuna is likewise an alpine country, but there is a fine plain between the town of Chiavenna and the Lake of Como, which is as productive as any part of North Italy.
The area of Sondrio is ]253 square miles; the population 98,550, of whom more than seven-tenths live in the Valtellina. The spoken language is an Italian dialect. The province is divided into seven districts. The principal towns are—Sondrio, the head town of the whole province, situated on the right bank of the Adda. Sondrio has a handsome cathedral, a gymnasium, a college, a court of justice, a theatre, an hospital, and about 4500 inhabitants. Claavenna, a pretty town on the river Maira, at the branching off of the two roads over the Splugen and the Septimer, has six churches, a town-house, a castle, an hospital; manufactures of silk, paper, cloth made of amian thus, and pottery made of ' pietra olleria, a soft stone found in the neighbourhood ; and about 3600 inhabitants.