Moesa District

The Moesa Region is one of the eleven administrative districts in the Canton of the Grisons (or in German: Graubünden) in Switzerland. It had an area of 473.74 square kilometers (182.91 sq mi) and a population of 8,770 (as of 31 December 2020).. It was created on 1 January 2017 as part of a reorganization of the Canton. The region borders with the Viamala Region to the north, with Italy to the east (Lombardy: Province of Sondrio and of Como) and with the Canton of Ticino (districts of Bellinzona to the southwest, Riviera and Blenio) to the west.

Roveredo is a municipality in the Moesa Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.

Pala Castle (Italian: Torre di Pala) is a tower in the municipality of San Vittore of the Canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

San Vittore is a municipality in the Moesa Region in the Swiss canton of Grisons (Graubünden).

Buseno is a municipality in the Moesa Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

The Corno di Gesero is a mountain of the Lepontine Alps, located on the border between the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Graubünden. It lies on the range west of the Cima di Cugn, between the Valle d'Arbedo and the Val Traversagna.

Lumino is a municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Arbedo-Castione is a municipality in the district of Bellinzona in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Piz de Molinera is a mountain in the Lepontine Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Ticino and Graubünden. It overlooks the junction of the Ticino and the Moesa, north of Arbedo (Ticino).

Castione-Arbedo railway station is a railway station in the Swiss canton of Ticino and municipality of Arbedo-Castione. The station is on the Swiss Federal Railways Gotthard railway, between Biasca and Bellinzona. From 1907, Castione-Arbedo station was the principal interchange point between the Gotthard railway and the Bellinzona–Mesocco railway (BM), a metre gauge railway linking Bellinzona and various communities in the Val Mesolcina as far as Mesocco. The line closed to passenger traffic in 1972, and to freight traffic in 2003, but the section north as far as Cama, operated as the Ferrovia Mesolcinese tourist line until its final closure in 2013.

The Moesa is a 47-kilometre (29 mi) river, a tributary of the Ticino, which flows through the Swiss cantons of Grisons and Ticino. It rises in Val Vignun near the San Bernardino Pass and descends, along with the A13 motorway, through the Val Mesolcina towards Roveredo, where it receives the rivers Calancasca and Traversagna. Near Arbedo-Castione the Moesa flows into the Ticino. The Moesa is a popular river for kayaking.

The Battle of Arbedo was fought on 30 June 1422 between the Duchy of Milan and the Swiss Confederation, and ended with a Milanese victory. In 1419, the Swiss cantons of Uri and Unterwalden bought the fortified town of Bellinzona from the House of Sax but were unable to defend it adequately. When they rejected a Milanese proposal to purchase Bellinzona in 1422, a Milanese force under the command of the condottiero Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola attacked and defeated the Swiss garrison and occupied the town. A Swiss attempt to recapture Bellinzona with the support of other cantons including Lucerne and Zug led to the battle at the village of Arbedo, 3 km (1.9 mi) north of the town. The Swiss were mainly equipped with halberds and were initially successful in repelling two Milanese cavalry charges. Carmagnola then brought up his crossbowmen on the Swiss flanks and ordered his men-at-arms to dismount and fight on foot with their lances, which outreached the halberds. The Milanese forced the Swiss back onto a nearby hill, but the appearance of a band of foragers, whom the Milanese mistakenly thought were reinforcements, saved the Swiss from total defeat. When the Milanese force pulled back to reform, the Swiss withdrew from the battlefield, both sides having taken heavy casualties. In a historiographical tradition of Zug, the bearer of the cantonal banner, Peter Kälin, was slain, and the banner was taken up by his son, who was slain in his turn. The banner was saved by one Hans Landwing, and was later lost against the French. The victory secured Bellinzona and the Leventina for the Duchy. In addition, the Duchy regained the Val d'Ossola, thus the Swiss lost all their territorial gains. The defeat discouraged Swiss expansion towards Lake Maggiore for a long time. However, it was this defeat at Arbedo that led to the Swiss increasing the number of pikemen in their armies.