Bergel Valley

SOME HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL FACTS ON THE MIGRATION OF SCARTEZZINIS FROM ITALY
INTO SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

Clique na bandeira para mudar o idioma

By Jean-Louis Scartezzini,
professor of Physics at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Click on the links for more information

	The most famous Scartezzini is native from a small village in the Bergell Valley (Graubünden) in Switzerland - Bondo - located very close to the Trentino, in Italy (one only have to cross the boarder from Switzerland to Italy to move from Bondo to Trento). Bondo is the village where Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini was born in the XIX Century (his house can be visited there, together with the house of Alberto Giacometti, the world renown painter).
	In fact, there are only a few *Scartezzini* leaving in the largest Swiss cities, excepting Bondo where most of the inhabitants are *Scartezzini! There is even a museum in Bondo presenting some of the Scartezzini* migrants in the European countries, as well as the history of the Bergell! Most of the Scartezzini (or Scartazzini) are still living in Bondo (Bregaglia), Switzerland, a small village in the Southern Alps where they probably appeared around the Renaissance, probably migrating from the Italian city of Firenze (Florence), as confirmed by historical research. The village is located on an ancient roman way, protected by a defense tour, which appears on the Scartezzini's historical "flag".
	The Scartezzini (in fact Scartazzini) were patrician of the Bregaglia; the mills of the valley belonged to the family in the old times, as a consequence they built a splendid house in the Bregaglia (la Casa Scartazzini), close to the castle of the aristocratic power of the valley: the family De Salis. The Scartazzini's house belongs today to a branch of the family leaving in Lausanne. The museum of the Bregaglia has some data on Scartezzinis (including mock-up of backer shops in Paris from Scartassin, who migrated into France when the valley were starving).

	HISTORY OF BONDO
	In a certain sense, Bondo belonged to the same state created in 1524: the "Independent Republic of the Three Leagues" (the League of the House of God, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions and the Grey League). The three of them are shown in the three different grey colors of the figure, the darker area being the regions under control of the Three League state. This is the map of the Three Leagues from 1512 to 1797. Note that the Tyrol (Austria) and a fraction of the Trentino region of Italy belongs to the independent republic (Bondo is not far from the center).
	In the map of the left (click on pictures to enlarge them), you can see Raetian Freestate. Map taken from http://geog.tamu.edu/~prout/Chapter2.htm, "SWISS-ROMANSH - A Geographical Perspective" "Cultural Preservation in the Romansh Landscape: A Geography of the Romansh Movement" http://geog.tamu.edu/~prout/Rumantsch.html by Erik Prout (http://geog.tamu.edu/~prout/). See also http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germania_Superior and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhaetia. In this map of the right you can see the Independent Republic of the Three Leagues (1618), showing the Pregaglia Valley and Bondo in the center. As you can see Tyrol (in Austria) and a fraction of the Trentino (in Italy) were under control of this independent state, which survives up to the invasion of Switzerland by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797, who created the Helvetic Republic involving almost all the present Swiss Cantons.
	The Three Leagues state were soon under influence of the Reform, which was started in the centre of Switzerland by Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531). As so the Reformists, who became the Protestants, were opposed to the Catholic pope and to many of the tradition of the Catholic church. Most of the member of the Three League state adopted the Reform, bringing some new and refreshing social advantages. In 1512 the Three Leagues dominating the area brought the Reform down to the present Italian city of Chiavenna and to the Valtellina.
	The counter-reform started soon from Rome in Italy, even with some help of the Spaniards, with a paroxysm in 1620, the Inquisition, pushing many "new" Protestants from Italy to flee and secure themselves in the valleys of the Three Leagues. That is the reason why the Bregaglià is speaking Italian and not German (or rethic language). As a matter of fact, it is possible that the Scarte(a)zzini moved for this reason into the Bregaglià. Why mostly in Bondo and Promontogno, I do not know... maybe because this was just before the Tower gate which secured the valley (see figure) and for which they had to pay fees for passing! In this figure you have a view of the tower gate which secured the Val Bregaglià from the South. The later one was placed on an ancient roman path crossing the Alps. (This tower appears in the Scartazzini blazon's).

	BONDO, GRISONS, SWITZERLAND (Graubünden, Grissons, Grigioni, Graubuenden, Graubunden or Grischun)

	As I have said, Bondo is a small village in the Bergell Valley (Grisons) in Switzerland, located very close to the Trentino, in Italy. One only have to cross the boarder from Switzerland to Italy to move from Bondo to Trento! Here you can see some maps.

MAPAS

Switzerland and the district of Bergell	The Grisons Canton	The Grisons Canton


Bondo in Switzerland	Sopra Porta and Sotto Porta	Val Bregaglia


Bondo	Val Bregaglia and Bondo	Val Bregaglia and Bondo


FLAGS


Grisons' Flag	Bondo's Flag

	SCARTEZZINI IN BREGAGLIA
	The *Scartezzini* were not noble, but "patricians". The noble family, masters from the Val Bregaglià was the De Salis, who arrived in the valley in the XIII Century. Patricians in the valleys of the Graubünden, were rich families (not noble) who where driving the politics and the farming activities of the villages. They had usually a political power on the other inhabitants and a lot of privileges over the rest of the population, as well as beautiful large houses. I am suspecting that the Scartezzini were holder of the mill, for which all farmers had to pay for its use (to prepare bread). See Figure. The splendid *"Casa Scartezzini"* is located next to it (not on the picture).
	The blazon of the family is made of the tower gate of the valley (located next to the village of Bondo), as can be seen in its picture. Here we also have a picture of a Scartezzini's grave in Bondo.

	DISTRICT OF BERGELL
	For the geographer that part of the Bergell belonging to the Grisons commences at the Maloja Pass and ends at the small stream known as the Lovero below Castasegna. From a historical-political point of view, however, as can clearly be seen from a study of the boundaries of this Italian-speaking district, it goes beyond the Maloja Pass up to the middle of the Lake of Sils, into the Fedoz Valley, and includes the upper part of the Madriser Valley which belongs geographically to Avers. The fact that the waters of this district flow into three different seas, i.e., the North Sea, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea, is most certainly unique. The District of Bergell comprises the communes Bondo, Casaccia, Castasegna, Soglio, Stampa and Vicosoprano.
	The name Bergell (Bregaglia in Italian) is derived from that of the tribe of the Bergalei, which in its turn is derived from the Celtic "Berga", meaning slope. The Bergalei were therefore "the slope-dwellers".
	As the valley controls a large part of the southern side of the Septimer and the Julier/Maloja passes, it may be assumed that it was settled before the La Tène epoch (450 BC to the Roman conquest) for which finds have been made. There are good grounds for believing that he Romans occupied Bergell before the conquest of Rhaetia around 15 B.C. Roman finds at the top of the Septimer Pass and at various places in the valley prove the Roman settlement of the valley. The Itinerarium Antonini, as list of Roman posts on the roads dating from the year 3 A.D., calls the Station Murus (proved by excavations), on the rock at Castelmur above Promontogno, the "Porta". It not only divided the valley politically into the jurisdictions of Sopra Porta and Sotto Porta, but also forms a definite climatic barrier. (See on the map, in green and maroon).
	St. Gaudenzio, the martyr, brought the Christian belief into the valley and the site of his grave, situated according to legend at Casaccia, was a well-attended place of pilgrimage up to the time of the Reformation. Until the early middle Ages Bergell belonged to the territory of the town of Como, but then it began to separate itself from the south and sought connection with Rhaetia; this can be seen from the Carolingian register of landed property, in which the valley is listed as a separate "Ministerium Bergallia". In 960 the Bishop of Chur became the sovereign lord of Bergell as the result of a donation by Otto I. At a very early date it was possible for the people of Bergell to acquire some important rights, and the contract of the communes of the League of God's House drawn up at Zernez in 1367 ensured for the people of Bergell the right to elect their own local Podest. Even at that time the valley was practically free. The admonition of Karl IV to his princes and dignitaries to make use of the Septimer Pass, and the improvement of the route, made in accordance with the Bishop's orders in 1387, brought an increase of commerce and trade and extra revenue to the carriers. The conquest of the Valtellina by the people of the Grisons in 1512 gave Bergell new importance, and it is hardly a coincidence that the first commissary at Chiavenna was a man from Bergell, Andreas von Salis, a member of the Salis-Soglio family, which was of great influence in politics and had a long record of foreign service. The success of the Reformation in the villages of Bergell was not only due to the influence of the highly-talented Bishop of Capo d'Istria, Pier Paolo Vergerio, but can also be attributed to the fact that the Bishops of Chur were usually German, whereas the reformers were Italian. During the Wars of the Grisons the Spanish blocked the food supplies and attacked the people of Bergell. In 1628 the Plague, brought in by the foreign troops, claimed many victims. After the Treaty of Milan law and order returned, and in the following decades trade across the passes flourished. The people of Bergell were not spared the trials for witchcraft in the middle of the 17th century, and about 50 such trials took place. At the time of the French Revolution the Austrians occupied the valley in the winter of 1789/99; they fought the French in the spring of 1799 on the Septimer and at Lobbia. The final loss of the subject territory belonging to the Grisons was a heavy blow for Bergell, lying so near to Chiavenna, and even the construction of a new road over the Julier and Maloja around 1820 did not compensate for this. According to the old division of the country dating from 1535 there were two jurisdictions in the valley, Sopra Porta and Sotto Porta, which formed the High Court of Bergell. The new division of the Canton in 1851 set up the District of Bergell, with the six political communes already mentioned.

	FAMOUS PEOPLE OF BERGELL
	Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini (1837-1901) from Bondo, was for many years a parson at Fahrwangen. He became famous in Europe through his publications on Dante, and his work threw new light on research into Dante's work. Renato Stampa, an expert on Scartazzini's work, considers him the greatest Italian-speaking personality of the Grisons and one of the most eminent Swiss of Italian extraction.

	Giovanni Giacometti (1868-1933) painter, from Bondo. After studying in Munich and Paris he settled in Stampa, where he took an active part in the life of the village. In Bergell and the Engadine, Giacometti, who was a friend of Segantini's, created works which have hardly a parallel in Swiss painting in their intensity and sensuousness. He lived to see the day when what he had fought for with Hodler and Amiet inspired and encouraged a whole generation of young Swiss artists. (G.Peterli)

	Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) sculptor, from Stampa. In 1922 he went to Paris, but he often spent the summer in Stampa where his father, Giovanni, also lived. His statues, whose shapes are drawn to extreme length have made him famous, and are considered as his most original works. He is regarded as the most important surrealistic sculptor, and even as one of the most imaginative artists of our time. (G. Peterli)

	COAT OF ARMS
	District Coat of Arms: Silver, ibex erect sable with horns gules on foot sable in crenelle. Blazonry: The black base of the shield in the crenelle symbolizes the former division of the valley into Sopra and Sotto Porta, and refers to one of the most noticeable feature of the valley, the "Müaia". The ibex and the colors are those of the League of God's House, to which Bergell belonged. District colors: black-white.



Source: http://www.mindspring.com/~philipp/gr_berge.txt