thumb|upright=1.2|The lakes of the upper Engadine and the town of [[St. Moritz]]

The Engadin or Engadine ( ; or ; ; ) 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, scenic landscapes and outdoor activities.

Name

In English, the valley is known as either Engadin (, <small>locally also</small> ) or Engadine ( , ).

The Romansh toponym Engiadina was first attested as Latin vallis Eniatina in AD 930. A derivation from the reconstructed ethnonym *Eniates (with a Celtic suffix -ates denoting "settlers, inhabitants", as in Licates or Atrebates) has been suggested, with the first part of the ethnonym in turn containing the name of the En (Aenus (Enus)). By that derivation the name would mean .

Especially in touristic and advertising contexts, the meaning of the name is widely given as "garden of the Inn", presumably based on an incorrect folk etymology involving the Italian word giardino. The Romansh languages retain descendants of Latin hortus to refer to a garden, namely üert or iert, and not the ultimately Germanic loanword found in modern-day French and Italian.

Geography

thumb|right|The highest peaks of the eastern Alps are in the Bernina range

The Engadine lies at the southeasternmost end of Switzerland and at the western end of the Eastern Alps, and constitutes the Swiss part of the -long valley drained by the En/Inn until it turns northeast again after a large bend to northwest just before Landeck in Austria. The Austrian part is simply called the Oberinntal (upper Inn Valley). From the Maloja Pass () to the border of Tyrol, just before the Schergenbach, coming from Samnaun, enters the Inn, it runs for the whole Swiss length of , always above in elevation.

The Engadine is connected by the Julier, Albula, and Flüela Passes and the Vereina Tunnel to the northern part of Switzerland and the rest of the canton of Grisons. It can be reached from northern Italy by the Maloja Pass to the west and the Bernina Pass to the south. Via the Pass dal Fuorn () it connects to the southern Val Müstair () and further south over the border to the Val Venosta () in Italy. ) begins at the Maloja mountain pass () in the southwest with a subsequent chain of lakes running southwest–northeast: Lej da Segl (, ), Lej da Silvaplauna (, ), both famous for windsurfing, and Lej da San Murezzan (; , ). To the southwestern side, the Maloja Pass drops precipitously down to the Italian spoken Val Bregaglia () and then over the Swiss-Italian border further down to Chiavenna (), and thence southwards to Como. Near the Lunghin Pass (), northwest from and above Maloja, lies the most notable triple watershed in Western Europe, from where the water flows via the Inn and then via the Danube to the Black Sea, via the Maira and then via the Po to the Mediterranean Sea, and via the Gelgia and then via the Rhine to the North Sea. Near Samedan, the river Flaz joins the Inn from the south and the valley opens into a wide meadow framed with mountains. The Flaz is a major tributary which flows north, down the Val Bernina starting in Pontresina at the confluence of the Ova da Roseg and Ova da Bernina. Here, on the flat between those two rivers one also finds the Engadin Airport. ) begins. Here the villages are no longer located on the valley floor, with the exception of Zernez, but higher up on sunny terraces formed during glacial periods.

In contrast to the elevated plain of the Upper Engadine, where the upper reaches of the En flow gently down the valley, the geological background of the Lower Engadine forms a very different landscape. The right flank of the valley, the Lower Engadine Dolomites, is highly jagged, densely forested and steep. Glaciers and rivers have marked the left side of the valley in many different ways, where the geological structure has allowed for the formation of a fairly broad valley floor and softly rising, rounded landscape features with high-lying terraces, which is where most of the villages - with the notable exception of the main town Scuol - are located.

thumb|left|[[Tarasp Castle overlooking the valley]]

To the north, another train route connects the Lower Engadine with Klosters (and Davos) in the Prätigau via the recently built Vereina Tunnel. And further via Landquart to Chur or Zürich. The capital of the Lower Engadine is the ski and spa resort Scuol at around . At the very end of the Engadine, a curvaceous mountain road through the deep gorge-like Val da Tschera, not build before 1912,

In the Lower Engadine tourism became important in 1913 with the opening of the train station in Scuol, since then it has been well connected to the rest of Switzerland.

In 1369 the mineral sources in Scuol were mentioned for the first time but the health benefits were known even earlier. The most important tourism attraction is the Bogn Engiadina Scuol inaugurated in 1993. With 80&nbsp;km of courses, the inauguration of the Motta Naluns ski area in 1956 was another important date in the history of tourism in Scuol.

Further, the opening of the Vereina tunnel in 1999 reduced the trip length from Zürich to Scuol considerably so now it is possible to do a one-day trip to Scuol, visit the Bogn Engiadina and return in the evening.

Traditions

thumb|[[Chalandamarz in Guarda]]

Though no one knows how far back it dates, the traditional winter horse-drawn sleigh ride takes place every winter. Many of the sleighs once came from local families who have been living in the area over many generations. The fact that their carriages go as far back as they do, helps to identify the tradition as one that has possibly been around for centuries.

The ("sleigh ride"; ) is composed of many sleighs, each carrying a young woman and a young man paired up by a lottery, and one sleigh carrying a musician or group of musicians to serenade the riders and the accompanying audience.

Typical black and red Engadine dress is used by the townspeople and the horses are decorated with plumage and trimmings in addition to the bells. Throughout the day-long ride, stops, that have been planned ahead of time, are made where eating, dancing, and drinking occur. At the end of the night, the young woman's companion (who had been selected by lottery) is invited to her home for more celebratory dining.

Local cuisine

The Engadine cuisine has not lost its originality. This regional cuisine is characterized by the use of selected local spices which have the rare ability to infuse a dish with a certain Engadine taste. In general, the basic ingredients of the dishes are quite elementary, using potatoes and meat because the Engadine farmers of former times had a hard daily working life. Additionally, expensive ingredients were not available to the mainly poor farmers. Because of the local way of preparation, dishes vary from kitchen to kitchen and village to village.

One of the most well-known foods associated to this region is the Bündner Nusstorte, also known as Engadiner Nusstorte, which is a traditional sweet, caramelised nut-filled pastry (generally walnut).

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Karsten Plöger: Das Engadin. Biografie einer Landschaft. Hier und Jetzt Verlag, Zürich 2023, ISBN 978-3-03919-579-4.
  • Karsten Plöger: The Engadine. Biography of a Landscape. Hier und Jetzt Verlag, Zürich 2023, ISBN 978-3-03919-603-6.
  • Poltéra, Maggie. "Das Kochbuch aus Graubünden", Verlag Wolfgang Hölker GmbH 1979.
  • Culture archive of the Engadin
  • Webcams of the Engadin
  • Vegetation map Upper Engadine, 1:50'000, GIS, June 2010