The Puster Valley was inhabited since
prehistoric times as finds belonging to the
Iron Age have been found in that area. In more recent times this zone was inhabited by people belonging to the
Illyrian stock: they were called "Saevates" by the
Romans (hence the name "Sebatum" of the Roman station of today's
Saint Lawrence.) In the 6th century, the
Celtic invaders merged with the Illyrian population. Around the end of the
I century B.C, the Rienz valley was mainly used by the Romans as an arterial road to connect the north-eastern regions of the
Empire. The Puster Valley belonged to the
imperial province of
Noricum, and the local populations, during the four centuries of the domination of
Rome, began to assimilate the customs, the language and finally the
Christian religion. In the 5th century the
Goths, the
Baiuvarii and the
Slavs decided to descend in this area, with consequent conflicts between Baiuvarii and Slavs, which ended with the Baiuvarii victory. In the course of their westward migration, the Slavs settled in East Tyrol and left visible traces in the place names. In the 10th century the Puster Valley started to belong to the Pustrissa countship, firstly mentioned in 974 as
Pustrissa and
Pustrussa; in 1091 the countship was ceded by the Emperor
Henry IV to the Bishop of Brixen and in the 16th century the
Hapsburg took possession of it. During the
Napoleonic era, following the Austrian defeat at Austerlitz and the
treaty of Pressburg in 1805, the entire region passed to the
Bavaria: the Tyroleans, led by Andreas Hofer, repeatedly fought against the Bavarian domination. After Napoleon's fall, the Puster valley was reunited with
Austria and, following the
World War I, it was assigned to
Italy. Opening in 1871 the
Puster Valley Railway uses the relative simple landscape to avoid climbing steep slopes. ==Puster Valley District==