Savièse

Geschichte

Savièse is a municipality in the district of Sion in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.HistorySavièse is first mentioned in 1200 as Saviesi. In 1224 it was mentioned as Savisia. The municipality was formerly known by its German name Safiesch, however, that name is no longer used.GeographySavièse has an area, of 70.9km2. Of this area, 15.05km2 or 21.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 11.24km2 or 15.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.36km2 or 4.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.83km2 or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and 40.53km2 or 57.1% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.4%. Out of the forested land, 12.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.8% is pastures, while 4.7% is used for orchards or vine crops and 12.7% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.6% is in lakes and 0.6% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 9.8% is unproductive vegetation, 42.8% is too rocky for vegetation and 4.6% of the land is covered by glaciers.The municipality is located in the Sion district, on the right side of the Rhone. This large municipality, which covers over half of the total area of the district, is bordered in the north by the Bernese Alps and is connected to the Saanenland by the Sanetsch Pass. It consists of the six villages of Saint-Germain (the capital of the municipality), Chandolin, Granois, Drône, Roumaz and Ormone as well as multiple hamlets.