The Swiss part of the valley is inhabited by the descendants of Italian Protestants, some descending from those who settled here in the mid-16th century to avoid persecution by the Inquisition, and today about 75% of the population is Protestant.[1] The local dialect is a variety of Lombard with similarities to neighboring dialects of Romansh.[2]
The valley begins at the Maloja Pass (1815 m) which connects it to the Engadin (the valley of the Inn, which is part of the Danube basin). There the river Orlegna extends westwards and joins the river Mera to Chiavenna shortly after which the Mera joins with the Liro and turns south towards Lake Como. From Chiavenna to Maloja, a distance of 32 km, the valley rises 1482 m.
In this valley sources of three important basins have their origin: the Rhine (through the Avers Rhine), which runs to the North Sea, the Inn, which runs to the Danube (near Passau), and the rivers Mera and Adda, which run to the Po.
The Bregaglia Range is the group of mountains to the south of the valley.
Name
Some scholars, including E. Dubois and James S. Reid, asserts the valley takes its name from the Bergalei Alpine tribe that inhabited it, a name otherwise lost except for a mention on Tabula clesiana, a Roman plate.[4][5] On the other hand, 18th-century documents derive modern Lombard Bregaglia from Middle Latin Pregallia ("pre-Gaul, anterior Gaul"). The Latin name Pregallia was used for the valley from at least the 13th century.[6]
