The Swiss Engadine and the Upper Inn Valley are close by. The Resia Pass is situated at the border where Austria, Italy and Switzerland meet. It is one of the major north-south Alpine routes and its specific location understandably influences the local population and their culture.

The mountain passes connecting the Swiss Engadine to South Tyrol not only form part of the national boundary but also divide the German speakers in the Val from the inhabitants of Grigioni, who speak the Romansch language. Since the times of the Counter Reformation and as late as in the 19th Century in some of the more remote valleys, Ladin was still the dominant language in the Venosta Valley and many place names are still in Rhaetian and even Celtic. These days, there is considerable cooperation between the different cultural and linguistic groups, such as the Alpine Road of Romanesque Art which links rare archaeological and architectural structures on both sides of the border.