The massif is associated with an important cultural heritage, which inspires artists as evident in its representations and appearances in painting, cinema, music and literature.

This name generally refers to the French part of the massif, which tends to be confused with the territory of the eponymous national park, although the latter is smaller in size.

Four main orographic nodes exceeding 3,000 m altitude can be distinguished, from east to west:[7] Six main valleys cross the massif or delimit its natural borders: These valleys are generally very steep, forming impassable gorges in their lower part, but widening at intermediate altitudes (600 to 1,000 m), where the majority of human occupations are found.

[8] The relief of the massif covers the entire northern half of the department of Alpes-Maritimes, in France, and the eastern end of the province of Cuneo, in Italy.

On the Italian part, the massif corresponds to the right bank watershed of the Stura di Demonte, up to Cuneo (including in particular its tributaries Gesso and Vermenagna).

Field data analysis, especially from the Italian Stura di Demonte valley, has helped establish the glacial maximum during the Riss period.

[4] The traces left by these glaciers are visible within the massif in the form of erratic blocks as well as rocks scraped or polished by the action of ice are widespread there, particularly in the Merveilles and Fontanalbe valleys.

[41] However, on the French side, certain villages have seen their population increase again since the beginning of the 21st century (for example in Clans, Saint-Martin-Vésubie, Valdeblore, Belvédère, Lantosque, Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée or Entraunes).

[42] On the French part of the massif, the “membership area” (peripheral zone) of the Mercantour national park covers 23 municipalities, representing 20,600 inhabitants (as of 2022).

[43] On the Italian part of the massif, the 5 municipalities of the Maritime Alps natural park (Aisone, Entracque, Roaschia, Valdieri and Vernante)[44] represent just over 3,000 inhabitants (as of 2011).

The occupation of the massif by man began in the Neolithic age, and the colonization of the Alpine valleys dates back to the 5th millennium BC.

During the Bronze Age, metallurgical activity developed and semi-nomadism continued: shepherds' shelters were identified in this area as seasonal places of passage.

However, the development of human activities at altitude experienced a sharp slowdown between 1550 and 1050 BC, due to the cooling of the climate in the Alpine arch.

[47] On the other hand, traces of relationships between protohistoric communities are visible, including at long distances, through certain imported weapons (Carpathian spear found in Cuneo for example).

Traces of a continuous human presence are visible for example in Valdieri, where a necropolis frequented during the recent and final Bronze Age has been identified.

An inscription was found at Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage, which can be translated as: “(the legionary) Fulvius (… ) defeated and subdued the Ligurian (tribes) of Bagienni, Vediantii, Montani and Sallavici”.

[59] The environmental issue and the role of parks remained a subject of importance in the following decades, as evidenced by the debate around the controversial “Balcons du Mercantour” project and their subsequent abandonment in 23 January 2009.

[61] Climatic considerations and their influences in the massif subsequently take on importance: On 2 October 2020, storm Alex caused a heavy human and material toll in the Vésubie and Roya valleys.

The winter sports resorts of the massif welcome several million visitors each year, both local and international, and offer several hundred kilometres of alpine ski slopes.

The Tour de France has regularly used the passes of the massif since 1950, and the Mercan'Tour Classic is a road cycling race organized since 2020 around Valberg.

Different watercolorists also represented the places: Alexis Mossa with works of Boréon, Haut-Boréon, as well as Gordolasque, and Antoine Trachel with representations of Tende and Roquebillière.

Higher in the valley, the diffusion of 26 September 1965 of the program En vue direct de… , produced by Jacques Ertaud, took place on the west face of Cougourde, with the mountaineers Jean Grinda, Jean-Marie Morisset, Gaston Rébuffat and Maurice Baquet.

In the Roya valley, the film La Fille sur le pont, with Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis, was directed by Patrice Leconte partly in the area of the village of Breil-sur-Roya.

And more generally in the massif: Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants is an animated film with live-action settings using the landscapes of the Mercantour park.

La montagne aux histoires is a film based on exchanges with inhabitants of the valleys of the massif, produced on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Mercantour park.

“Les Follies des Lacs” is an annual music festival, created in 2001 by the mayor of Valdeblore, in which pianist François-René Duchâble regularly participates, taking place at the edge of the lakes of the massif.

[73] Julien Doré composed his album & in a chalet in Saint-Martin-Vésubie, and recorded an acoustic version of Coco câline in the mountains of the massif.

[74] Nice et Savoie, work commissioned by Napoleon III and published in 1864, contains lithographs representing the departments newly attached to France in 1860, and more particularly from different villages of the massif.

La Suisse niçoise, a collection of the writings of Victor de Cessole and Fernand Noetinger, traces the history of the conquest of the massif.

Jean Siccardi, a writer from Nice, depicts two shepherd brothers in the heart of the massif, in his book Les brumes du Mercantour.