Poschiavo is the Italian-speaking surprise on the far side of the Bernina. After the cold, bare grandeur of the pass, you drop through a series of hairpins and arrive in a warm, green valley where the language changes, the houses change and the food changes, even though you are still in Switzerland. The valley, the Valposchiavo, belongs to canton Graubünden, but its people speak a Lombard dialect and its old town looks like a village in Piedmont or Lombardy.
The old centre is a pleasure, a little maze of narrow streets, arcades and small squares around a handsome Catholic church with a tall bell tower. Next to it stands the Protestant church, and the two faiths have lived side by side for centuries, a rare example of peaceful coexistence in a region that had its religious wars. The most striking part of the town is the Spaniola quarter, a group of palazzi built in the nineteenth century by local people who had made their fortunes as confectioners and cafe owners in Spain and returned home to build grand houses with elaborate facades.
The Bernina railway runs through the valley, and the town is a stop on the Bernina Express, which crosses the Alps between Chur and Tirano. A short distance down the valley, at Brusio, the railway makes a complete circle on a stone viaduct to lose height, an engineering feat that is a favourite of photographers. The road keeps close company with the railway, and the ride from Poschiavo to Tirano and the Italian border is delightful, with terraced slopes and warm light.
The ride from the pass to Poschiavo is spectacular, with a descent of hairpins that drop over a thousand metres, and then a gentler run through the valley. The surface is excellent in general, but there are patches of rough tarmac, and the road is busy with buses and cars in summer. The temperature rises as you descend, and it is a good place to take off a layer. In autumn, the chestnut woods turn bronze and the smell of woodsmoke hangs over the villages.
The valley has also gained a reputation for organic farming and local food, and the cafes serve excellent coffee and homemade pastries. Try pizzoccheri, the buckwheat pasta cooked with cabbage, potato and melted cheese, which is the dish of the region, and a glass of local wine from the Valtellina across the border. Poschiavo has fuel stations and shops, and Tirano, about fifteen kilometres to the south in Italy, is the larger town if you need more. Bring your passport if you plan to cross the border.