St. Moritz (
German Sankt Moritz,
Romansh San Murezzan) is an exclusive resort town in the
Engadine valley in
Switzerland. It is a
municipality in the
district of Maloja in the
Swiss canton of
Graubünden. The highest summit in the Eastern Alps, the
Piz Bernina, lies a few kilometres south of the town.
St. Moritz is first mentioned around 1137-39 as ad sanctum Mauricium.[1]
The town was named after Saint Maurice, a Coptic Orthodox and Roman Catholic saint. Since the registration of a new trademark by the tourist office in 1987, St. Moritz is also known as Top of the World.
St. Moritz has an area, as of 2006[update], of 28.7&_160;square kilometers (11.1&_160;sq&_160;mi). Of this area, 28.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 19.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (44.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).[2]
