The name of Chiavenna, believed to derive by paretymology from clavis (English: key) referring to its pivotal position on the mountain passes between Northern Italy and the Posterior Rhine, comes in reality from a much older, prelatin (probably ligurian and certainly non-celtic) etymon klava, meaning fallen rocks of a mountain slip.[citation needed] In Roman times Clavenna was a town of Rhaetia, on the Italian side of the Alps, north of the head of the Lacus Larius (modern Lake Como), at the foot of the Valle Spluga. The itineraries demonstrate that Passo dello Spluga was frequented in ancient times; as well as another, which separated from it at Clavenna, and led by a more circuitous route over to Curia (modern Chur), where it rejoined the preceding road. It was by one or other of these passes that Stilicho crossed the Alps in midwinter, a feat celebrated by Claudian (de B. Get. 320-358).
After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire the city marked the northern limit of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. Clavenna was retaken by the Romans in the mid-6th century during the reign of Justinian and avoided capture by the Lombards until the 7th century. Clavenna probably derived some importance from its position at the junction of these two passes, as does the modern town of Chiavenna, which is the chief town of the surrounding district.
Chiavenna received town privileges from the Bishops of Como. In medieval times, the castello served as a residence of local counts controlling the Alpine passes in the north and east. It was in Chiavenna, were the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick Barbarossa met with his Welf cousin Henry the Lion and allegedly fell on his knees to implore Henry's aid against the cities of the Lombard League.
Initially under the overlordship of the Dukes of Swabia, the town was acquired by the Italian Visconti in the 14th century from the prince bishop of Chur. At a similar time to the transalpine campaigns of the Old Swiss Confederacy, it was controlled by the Three Leagues' forces. This put the Valtellina (or Veltlin) back under the control of the Prince Bishop of Chur. The Three Leagues (modern The Grisons, German: Graubünden) was not part of Switzerland until Napoleon's much later conquest. To this day, there is a statue of Peter de Salis in Chiavenna, who was Anglo-Swiss, from the time when he was governor of the Valtellina. Hence, together with neighbouring Bormio and Valtellina it did not form part of the Old Swiss Confederacy, but was until 1797 when the French revolutionaries merged these valleys into the Cisalpine Republic which was rapidly promoted to the Regno d'Italia with Eugène de Beauharnais as Vicerè (the King being Napoleone Bonaparte himself).
After the fall of Napoleon, from 1815 to 1859 Chiavenna and the whole of Lombardy and Veneto went to the House of Habsburg, who always wanted control of the pass from Austria to Milan to link the Habsburg families. During the favourable time of the Regno Lombardo Veneto, primary schools were created in every place, and instruction was made obligatory for maids. Lombard and Venetic women where the first to be educated in Italy, long before the women of other Italian provinces. The Austrian administration built mroads (Spluga, Stelvio), created hospitals and brought the level of medicine in Milan up to the top for the time. A citizen of Chiavenna could study in the universities of Innsbruck, Vienna, Prague, Budapest. He could serve in the imperial army, become an officer, accede to the higher administration, and be ennobled. After the proclamation of the Sabaudian Regno d'Italia, Chiavenna became part of Lombardy.
During the Second World War, Chiavenna was a German base guarding the route into Switzerland and was also staffed by many fascist border police. The surrounding rugged mountains were the haunt of anti-fascist partisans. The old Castle in Chiavenna was the German HQ and prison.
Chiavenna is now a thriving town and many of it's people commute to Switzerland for work. It has yet to be discovered by overseas tourists and unlike Lake Como is not flooded by visitors.
