CHIAVENNA, or Olafen, a small town of Italy, in the province of Sondrio, in a deep valley on the right bank of the Maira, and about seven miles from its entrance into the Lake of Como. From its situation at the junction of the great roads over the Splügen and Septimer. between Germany and Italy, it is a place of considerable trade, especially in the wines of the Valtelline, and the pottery manufactured in the vicinity. Its principal manufacture is silk, and its beer is reckoned the best in Northern Italy. Its most remarkable church is San Lorenzo, with a carved font of the 12th century; and on a neighbouring height are extensive ruins of an ancient castle. The town was known to the Romans as Clavenna, and probably was of some importance from its position. In the Middle Ages it was an independent imperial countship, till it was at last seized by the dukes of Milan, and bestowed on the Balbioni family. For a long time it was an object of contest between the bishops of Coire and the canton of the Grisons; and at last it fell to the latter in 1512. Incorporated with the Cisalpine republic in 1797, it passed in 1814 to Lombardy, and thus in 1859 to the kingdom of Italy, Population, 3900.