 In 15 BC the Celtic people then living in the upper Vinschgau valley found themselves incorporated into the Roman Empire following the construction of a commercial and military route crossing the Alps via what is now known as the Reschen Pass, the route then being called the "Via Claudia Augusta".The transalpine route retained its importance through the medieval period, being variously called the "Upper Way" ("Oberer Weg"/"Via Superiore") or the "Swabia Road" ("Schwabenweg"/"Via di Svevia").After 450 a wave of Christian missionaries arrived from Chur.