page_title: Giornico
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Giornico / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Gola della Biaschina
context_page_description: Giornico is a municipality in the district of Leventina in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
context_section_description: Giornico has an area, as of 1997, of 19.48 square kilometers (7.52 sq mi).  Of this area, 1.01 km² (0.39 sq mi) or 5.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 11.86 km² (4.58 sq mi) or 60.9% is forested.   Of the rest of the land, 1.42 km² (0.55 sq mi) or 7.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.4 km² (0.15 sq mi) or 2.1% is either rivers or lakes and 5.08 km² (1.96 sq mi) or 26.1% is unproductive land.
  Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.7% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 1.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.5%.  Out of the forested land, 47.4% of the total land area is heavily forested, while 11.1% is covered in small trees and shrubbery and 2.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees.  Of the agricultural land, 2.7% is used for growing crops and 1.6% is used for alpine pastures.  All the water in the municipality is flowing water.  Of the unproductive areas, 11.2% is unproductive vegetation and 14.8% is too rocky for vegetation.
  The municipality is located in the Leventina district, at the foot of the Biaschina gorge and along the Ticino river.  Its location along the Gotthard route, allowed the municipality to profit from travelers along the route.  It grew into an important political and religious center in the lower Leventina valley.
caption: Viaduct over Biaschina gorge
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