Tirano - Crossroad Between Italy and Switzerland

Tirano is a crossroad of culture between Italy and Switzerland, where the beauty of the Alpine landscape meets the beauty of art and history.

During the centuries it was a crossroad of considerable importance.

Charlemagne, during the Middle Ages, had already understood the importance of Tirano and of its routes leading to the great mountain passes and foothills. A strategic importance which during the centuries witnessed in Tirano a succession of all the dominations who wrote the history of Valtellina along with that of Lombardy and the neighbouring alpine regions.

This is the heart of Tirano - the 16th Century Sanctuary which is a treasure trove of art, history, faith, and at the same time fulcrum of the historic identity and reputation of Tirano and the entire Valtellina. It was built by popular faith after the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to Mario Omodei in 1504.

The Sanctuary, which in 1927 was elected by Pope Pius XI to a minor Roman Basilica, has three naves in the form of a Latin cross and represents the most important example of the Renaissance in Valtellina. It is a harmony of lines and styles which as in a great crossroad of art brings together the Romanesque trait of the great bell tower with the Renaissance trait of the structures on the side of the apse, from the body of the sacristy to the 16th Century dome. And what about the interiors, where art becomes a baroque exuberance in the richness of the stuccos and sculptures, but above all in the musicality of the sound, the carvings and the high reliefs of the majestic 17th Century organ.

The line of the Bernina Railway connects St. Moritz with Tirano. The complete line was opened in 1910. In 2008 the Bernina Railway as well as the Albula Railway were recorded from UNESCO in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.