Livigno (; local ; ) is a town, comune and a special-administered territory in the province of Sondrio, in the region of Lombardy, Italy, located in the Italian Alps, near the Swiss border. History Livigno's first settlers were probably shepherds during the Middle Ages. The first documents called this area . The name possibly comes from an old German word for "avalanche" which have always been frequent in the valley – the last avalanche to hit the village was in 1951, causing seven deaths and damage to a dozen houses. Politically, Livigno has always followed Bormio's history, although the relationships between the two communes have always been tense, Bormio being dominant and more populous than Livigno. Until the 1970s Livigno was a farming village. In recent decades, however, things have changed, and nowadays Livigno enjoys a better economic situation and a higher number of inhabitants. Livigno has recently enjoyed one of Italy's highest birth rates (19.4 births per 1000 inhabitants). Livigno's economy is based on tourism, both in winter and in summer, and on its duty-free status, with goods sold at bargain prices. Geography Livigno is above sea level. Livigno's main river is called Aqua Granda or Spöl. Trepalle, a frazione in the municipality of Livigno, is considered Europe's highest inhabited parish. Livigno was once a traditional and cultural village. Livigno is one of the few Italian villages which do not belong to the drainage basin of the Mediterranean Sea but to the Black Sea basin. Between 1965 and 1968, Swiss electric company Engadiner Kraftwerke AG, following an agreement with the Italian government, purchased land in Livigno in order to build a reservoir, the Lago di Livigno, for electricity production. Some houses and a church, "Chiesetta di Viera" lying in the valley where the reservoir would be built, had to be demolished. Climate Livigno has a very cold, wet subalpine climate (Köppen: Dfc). Most of winter is spent below freezing and snow is abundant. Summer is the only part of the year in which temperatures above are common, and frosts are less common (but still occur every year). Temperatures over are rare. Main sights Saint Mary's parish church was erected at the end of the 19th century, on a previous church. The current building incorporated the previous one, which was left standing until the end of works, allowing church services to be carried out as usual. Other buildings of note