Biasca

Biasca is the capital of the district Riviera in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Geography
The municipality lies at the entrance to the Blenio valley, 19 km north of Bellinzona, on the banks of the Brenno. About 3 km east of Biasca is the small lake of Carigiolo. The villages of Loderio, Ponte, Pontirone, Sant'Anna, and Valle are a part of Biasca.

History
Roman coins has been found in Biasca, which means that it had people living in it in old times.

The church of Biasca has sculptures and paintings from the 1400s and 1500s. It was built in 1213. A second Catholic church, the Rotonda di San Carlo, is a nice example of the modern building of the Milanese builder Macciacchini.

An avalanche from the Monte Crenone (now called Pizzo Magno) in 1512 buried many houses in Biasca and killed hundreds of people. This was one of the big avalanches in the Alps in modern times. It dammed the Brenno, forming a 14 kilometer long lake. This dam broke in the spring of 1514, flooding the Ticino valley to the Magadino plain.

Other websites

 * Official website
 * Biasca and Riviera Tourism website (Italian, French, German, English)