Mals

St. Benedikt is a pre-Romanesque church in Mals, South Tyrol, known for its Carolingian-era frescoes. It was built in the second half of the 8th century. Until the 12th century, it was owned by the bishops of Chur. In the 12th century, the romanesque tower was added. In the 18th century, under Joseph II, the building was used for storage. Use as a sacral building was resumed only in the 20th century, after the discovery of the Carolingian frescoes. The frescoes are dated to c. AD 800. They belong to a limited set of surviving frescoes of the Carolingian period, alongside those of the nearby St. Johann abbey in Val Müstair, Grisons. The frescoes are mostly distributed in three niches in the altar wall, showing Jesus Christ in the center, flanked by pope Gregory the Great and Saint Stephen. On the walls separating the niches are donor portraits below a troop of twelve angels, and scenes showing Gregory writing his Dialogi and disputing with Paulus Diaconus, alongsides scenes showing Paul of Tarsus and a fragment of a scene from the life of Saint Benedict.

The Mals Heath (German: Malser Haide) is located in South Tyrol, Italy; it is one of the largest ancient landslides and one of the most remarkable landscape features in the Alps. It is located in the Upper Vinschgau where a broad pass (the Reschen Pass) crosses the main Alpine divide into the Inn Valley (Austria). It extends from Glurns via Laatsch, Schleis, and Burgeis up to Plawenn. On the southern part is the village of Mals. The height difference of the heath varies from 900 m (Glurns) to 1,760 m (Plawenner Alm). The landslide emerges from the small side valley of Plawenntal, and descends for 11 km to the head of Vinschgau proper. The volume of the debris fan is estimated at 1,650 million cubic metres. It had always been assumed to be an alluvial fan, built up by numerous floods and debris small flows. New research demonstrates that a lost mountain could have existed above the head of Plawenntal, with a summit at about 3,100m - the present highest peak on the perimeter being the Mittereck, 2,908 m. There are indications all around the perimeter of a catastrophic collapse, severing former ridges and valley heads (notably Vivanatal). The shape of the lost mountain can readily be reconstructed by projecting these truncated landforms until they meet up. The volume of the lost mountain (named Plawennspitz) is very close to that of Mals Heath. There is at present no evidence of when this event occurred, but probably soon after the last glacier melted, over 10,000 years ago. Similar events probably created large fans nearby at St. Valentin, and in the main Vinschgau, notably at Allitz-Laas (Gadriamure) where the lost mountain and vast debris cone are even larger. Other megafans in the Alps are likely to be catastrophic too (1). The Mals Heath used to be a barren heath since it was so free draining. The debris fan dams a lake, Haidersee, which is now used as a source of irrigation water through a system of channels, and nearly all the heath is now cultivated and prosperous. The fan also displaces the main river, Adige, and the large tributary, Puni, to opposite sides of the valley. Disastrous floods still occur, destroying houses and even villages. The main road climbs the fan in broad zigzags, not the usual hairpins of an alpine pass, with several large wind turbines taking advantage of the smooth terrain and natural wind funnel.

Burgeis (Italian: Burgusio, Romansh: ) is the largest frazione of the comune of Mals, Italy, and sits at an altitude of 1216m in Vinschgau in South Tyrol beneath the mountain Watles (2557) on the upper reaches of the Adige. The name goes all the way back to a Roman founding, as a fort on the "Via Claudia Augusta", which runs through the village. This fort later gave the name of the Edelfreien von Burgus-Wanga, whose arms the village bears today. Burgeis has 828 inhabitants (March 2007) . It lies 2.5 Kilometer from Mals.

The Rom (Romansh: Rom; Italian: Ram; German: Rombach in Switzerland or Rambach in South Tyrol (Italy) is a river in Switzerland and Italy. The 24.7-kilometre (15.3 mi) long river is a tributary of the Adige. It rises in the Ortler Alps, close to the Fuorn Pass. It flows through the Val Müstair in Switzerland, and joins the Adige near the town Glurns in the Italian province of South Tyrol. The drainage basin is 189 square kilometres (73 sq mi).

Marienberg Abbey (German: Abtei Marienberg; Italian: Abbazia Monte Maria) is a Benedictine abbey in Mals, Vinschgau in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It was founded in 1149 or 1150 by Ulrich von Tarasp and other nobles. It has maintained a long tradition of education and, at 1,340 m, it is Europe’s highest abbey. It retains a Baroque style with Romanesque elements, and has some well-maintained frescos.

Glurns (German pronunciation: [ˈɡlʊrns]; Italian: Glorenza [ɡloˈrɛntsa]) is an urban comune (Stadt) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Bolzano. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").

Schluderns (German pronunciation: [ʃluˈdɛrns]; Italian: Sluderno [zluˈdɛrno]) is a comune (municipality) and a village in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about 60 km (37 mi) northwest of Bolzano.

The Battle of Calven (Romansh: Chalavaina)1 took place on 22 May 1499 at the exit of the Val Müstair in the Grisons (now part of Switzerland) to the Vinschgau in County of Tyrol (now part of Italy) between the forces of King Maximilian I of the House of Habsburg and those of the free federation of the Three Leagues of the Grisons. It was the decisive battle in the southern Grisons of the Swabian War; after the defeat of the Habsburg troops, the king had to abandon his attempts to control the Engadin and the Val Müstair. The focus of operations in the Swabian War subsequently shifted again to the northern border of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

The Haidersee is a lake in South Tyrol, Italy, which belongs to the municipality of Graun im Vinschgau.

The Saldurbach (Italian: Saldura) is a stream located in South Tyrol, Italy. It flows into the Punibach close to its confluence with the Adige near Prad am Stilfser Joch.

St. Valentin auf der Haide (Italian: San Valentino alla Muta) is a village in South Tyrol in the parish of Graun im Vinschgau. The village on the Reschen Pass lies at a height of 1,472 metres between the Haidersee and Reschensee on the scree slope of the Mals Heath. St. Valentin auf der Haide has about 800 inhabitants who predominantly earn a living from summer and winter tourism. St. Valentin also has a ski resort, Haideralm, which is part of the Skiparadies Reschenpass. Since 1965 St. Valentin has been twinned with the municipal district of Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The Zerzer Tal is a side valley of the Vinschgau in South Tyrol, Italy.