The main chain of the Alps, also called the Alpine divide is the central line of mountains that forms the drainage divide of the range. Main chains of mountain ranges are traditionally designated in this way, and generally include the highest peaks of a range. The Alps are something of an unusual case in that several significant groups of mountains are separated from the main chain by sizable distances. Among these groups are the Dauphine Alps, the Eastern and Western Graians, the entire Bernese Alps, the Tödi, Albula and Silvretta groups, the Ortler and Adamello ranges, and the Dolomites of Veneto and South Tyrol, as well as the lower Alps of Vorarlberg, Bavaria, and Salzburg.
South Tyrol is an autonomous province in northern Italy. An English translation of the official German and Italian names could be the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, reflecting the multilingualism and different naming conventions in the area. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province is the northernmost of Italy, the second largest with an area of 7,400 square kilometres (2,857 sq mi), and has a total population of about 534,000 inhabitants as of 2021. Its capital and largest city is Bolzano.
The Grisons or Graubünden, more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton of Graubünden, is one of the twenty-six cantons of Switzerland. It has eleven districts, and its capital is Chur. The German name of the canton, Graubünden, translates as the "Grey Leagues", referring to the canton's origin in three local alliances, the Three Leagues. The other native names also refer to the Grey League: Grischùn in Sutsilvan, Grischun in the other forms of Romansh, and Grigioni in Italian. Rhaetia is the Latin name for the area. The Alpine ibex is the canton's heraldic symbol.
The Engadin or Engadine is a long high Alpine valley region in the eastern Swiss Alps in the canton of Graubünden in southeasternmost Switzerland with about 25,000 inhabitants. It follows the route of the Inn from its headwaters at Maloja Pass in the southwest running roughly northeast until the Inn flows into Austria, little less than one hundred kilometers downstream. The En/Inn subsequently flows at Passau into the Danube, making it the only Swiss river to drain into the Black Sea. The Engadine is protected by high mountain ranges on all sides and is famous for its sunny climate, beautiful landscapes and outdoor activities.
Rhaeto-Romance, Rheto-Romance, Rhaeto-Italian, or Rhaetian, is a purported subfamily of the Romance languages that is spoken in south-eastern Switzerland and north-eastern Italy. The name "Rhaeto-Romance" refers to the former Roman province of Raetia. The question of whether these languages actually form a subfamily is called the Questione Ladina. The Italian linguist Graziadio Ascoli, writing in 1873, found them to share a number of intricacies and believed they formed a linguistic group. The Rhaeto-Romance languages differ from Italian in their evolution from Latin by having passed through a stage with phonemic vowel length, undergone certain consonant developments, and possibly developed a pair of central rounded vowels. If the subfamily is genuine, three languages would belong to it: Romansh in Switzerland, and Ladin and Friulian in Italy. Their combined number of speakers is about 660,000; the large majority of these speak Friulian.
The Ötztal Alps are a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps, in the State of Tyrol in western Austria and the Province of South Tyrol in northern Italy.
The Central Eastern Alps, also referred to as Austrian Central Alps or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent regions of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slovenia. South of them is the Southern Limestone Alps.
Ortler is, at 3,905 m (12,812 ft) above sea level, the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps outside the Bernina Range. It is the main peak of the Ortler Range. It is the highest point of the Southern Limestone Alps, of South Tyrol in Italy, of Tyrol overall, and, until 1919, of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. In German the mountain is commonly referred to as "König Ortler", like in the unofficial hymn of South Tyrol, the Bozner Bergsteigerlied.
The Livigno Alps are a mountain range in the Alps of eastern Switzerland and northern Italy, around the Italian village Livigno. They are considered to be part of the Central Eastern Alps.
The Sesvenna Alps are a mountain range located in the Alps of eastern Switzerland, northern Italy and western Austria.
The Rom (Romansh: Rom; Italian: Ram; German: Rombach in Switzerland or Rambach in South Tyrol is a river in Switzerland and Italy. The 24.7-kilometre long river is a tributary of the Adige. It rises in the Ortler Alps, close to the Fuorn Pass. It flows through the Val Müstair in Switzerland, and joins the Adige near the town Glurns in the Italian province of South Tyrol. The drainage basin is 189 square kilometres.
The Alps form a large mountain range dominating Central Europe, including parts of Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Hungary.
The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide, and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the south. The peaks and mountain passes are lower than the Western Alps, while the range itself is broader and less arched.
The Vinschgau, Vintschgau or Vinschgau Valley is the upper part of the Adige or Etsch river valley, in the western part of the province of South Tyrol, Italy.
Piz da las Trais Linguas, is a minor summit of the Ortler Alps, located on the border between Switzerland and Italy. The summit is the tripoint between the Italian regions of Lombardy and South Tyrol and the Swiss canton of Graubünden. Before World War I it was the international tripoint of Switzerland, the Kingdom of Italy and Austria-Hungary. The Romansh and German names refer to the encounter of different linguistic areas in this region. The Italian name refers to Giuseppe Garibaldi, however losing the reference to the meeting of different cultures.
Punta San Matteo is a secondary peak of Ortler-Vioz in the Ortler Alps, at the border between the Province of Sondrio and Trentino in northern Italy.
The Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps is a common division of the Eastern Alps into 75 mountain ranges, based on the Moriggl Classification (ME) first published in 1924 by the German and Austrian Alpine Club. The present-day division established for the German-speaking world was compiled by the German, Austrian and South Tyrol Alpine Clubs and published in 1984 and is also used for the basic numbering of Alpine Club maps for mountaineering.
The Stelvio Pass is a mountain pass in northern Italy bordering Switzerland at an elevation of 2,757 m (9,045 ft) above sea level. It is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, and the second highest in the Alps, 7 m (23 ft) below France's Col de l'Iseran.
The Sobretta-Gavia Group is a mountain massif that extends between the upper Veltlin and the upper Valcamonica in the Italian provinces of Sondrio and Brescia.
Lombardy is an administrative region of Italy that is split into four geographic regions — mountains, alpine forest, and the upper and lower plains south of the Po river. These are crossed and dotted by dozens of rivers and lakes, the latter of which include some of the largest in Italy. The territory is the fourth largest in Italy by surface area with 24,000 square kilometres (9,300 sq mi).
