Poschiavo is a pearl of the Italian Grisons, with a history and culture to make many envious. Renowned for its local cuisine, its elegant piazza and the unspoilt nature that frames the red Bernina train, a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Poschiavo is first mentioned in a Carolingian diploma from the year 824. The parish church of Poschiavo with those of Bormio and Mazzo in Valtellina were donated by the Carolingian kings to the Paris Abbey of St Denis. However, the donation was contested by the Bishop of Como, who in addition to spiritual power also held temporal and patrimonial rights in the valley. The bishop of Chur also claimed dominion over the same territory. Following the subjugation of Como and Valtellina to Milan in 1335, Val Poschiavo also fell under the rule of the Visconti in 1350. In 1406, the people of Poschiavo rebelled against the ceding of the valley as a feud to Giovanni Malacrida of Musso and destroyed the castle of the Olgiati family, guarantors of Milanese interests. In 1408, in order to seek protection, they submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Chur and became part of the Caddea League. In 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte removed Valtellina from the Three Leagues and annexed it to the Cisalpine Republic. Val Poschiavo rejected the annexation with disdain, remaining loyal to the Grisons. In 1801, the Three Leagues were aggregated to the Helvetic Republic, but the people of Poschiavo rebelled against the new order. The alternating occupation by Austrian and French troops and the resulting requisitions imposed a particularly harsh regime on the valley. Through the 1803 Act of Mediation, Val Poschiavo also became part of the Swiss Confederation along with Canton Graubünden. A federal decree of 1869 detached Val Poschiavo from the diocese of Como and integrated it into the diocese of Chur, so not only politically but also religiously the valley turned definitively northwards.