The comune was created by the Grisons in 1584, but it became a real thing only a generation later, on 10 December 1608, when the boundary dividing it from Piuro was at last traced on the ground. Less than ten years afterwards, on 4 September 1618, a landslide wiped Piuro off the map: the village from which Villa had just been separated ceased to exist. In 1797 the comune joined the Cisalpine Republic, which would later be called the Italian Republic; its coat of arms, by contrast, is very recent, granted in 2008.
Villa di Chiavenna is the last Italian village of the Val Bregaglia, on the road that climbs towards the Maloja pass: it borders Switzerland and the villages of Castasegna, Bondo and Soglio. Through its territory runs the Mera, which here forms an artificial basin and feeds a hydroelectric station. From Villa di Chiavenna comes Stefania Casini, born on 4 September 1948, actress, screenwriter, director and journalist: she took a degree in architecture at the Milan Polytechnic while studying acting, and at twenty-two she was the youngest actress ever to play the lead in Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, beside Tino Buazzelli.
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📅 Every year, on 20 January
On 20 January Villa di Chiavenna celebrates its patron Saint Sebastian, to whom the parish church is dedicated; among the town's sites is the Santuario della Madonna della Salute.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Villa di Chiavenna, but an easy day trip away.
