# Alvaneu

Alvaneu (Romansh: Alvagni) is a former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/Brinzauls and Surava merged to form the new municipality of Albula/Alvra.
On 20 March 2007 Peter Martin Wettler, a media expert and resident of Zurich was appointed Prince of Belfort by the village's authorities.

## History

Alvaneu is first mentioned in 1244 as Aluenude. In 1530 it was mentioned as Allweneü.

## Geography

Before the merger, Alvaneu had a total area of 35.7 km$^2$ (13.8 sq mi). Of this area, 27% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (38.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
The former municipality is located in the Belfort sub-district of the Albula district. It is located on a terrace above the Albula river. It consists of the village of Alvaneu (Alvaneu-Dorf) and Alvaneu-Bad on the valley floor. The municipality also includes the settlement of Aclas d'Alvagni as well as the alpine settlements of Creusch and Ramoz.

## Demographics

Alvaneu had a population (as of 2013) of 403. As of 2007, 7.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -6.2%.
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (25.1%), the SPS (22.8%) and the FDP (7.9%).
In Alvaneu about 69.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).
Alvaneu has an unemployment rate of 0.27%. As of 2005, there were 43 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 37 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 4 businesses in this sector. 124 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 23 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:
| year | population |
| 1838 | 362 |
| 1850 | 354 |
| 1880 | 314 |
| 1900 | 382 |
| 1930 | 441 |
| 1950 | 475 |
| 1960 | 396 |
| 1970 | 421 |
| 1980 | 379 |
| 1990 | 380 |
| 2000 | 407 |

## Languages

The traditional language of the population until the middle of the 19th century was Romansh. However, in 1880, only 80.1% of the inhabitants spoke Romansch as their native language. This erosion continued (1910: 68.06%, 1941: 56.0%, 1970: 47.03%). 1960 was the last census that counted a Romansch-speaking majority.
Languages in Alvaneu :
| Language | Census of 1980 | Census of 1980 | Census of 1990 | Census of 1990 | Census of 2000 | Census of 2000 |
| Language | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage |
| German | 189 | 49.87% | 230 | 60.53% | 308 | 76.43% |
| Romansh | 157 | 41.42% | 109 | 28.68% | 68 | 16.87% |
| Italian | 30 | 7.92% | 28 | 7.37% | 14 | 3.47% |
| Population | 379 | 100% | 380 | 100% | 403 | 100% |
Although 31% still speak some Romansch, German is now the only official language for municipality business.
Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (76.4%), with Rhaeto-Romance being second most common (16.9%) and Italian being third ( 3.5%).