Altissimo

At Altissimo the power was taken by a local man, by contract. The settlement took shape in the thirteenth century with the arrival of German-speaking colonists, the so-called Cimbri, although the civil and church organisation of the area is older; and on 5 February 1287 the Cimbrian Olderico da Altissimo made a contract with the bishop of Verona Bartolomeo della Scala and became gastaldo of the territory. Of the Middle Ages little else is known, and that little concerns the church of San Nicola and the contrade Molino and Costa: of castles, here, there is no trace at all. In 1336 Altissimo took part in the struggles against Mastino II della Scala, on the side of Padua and Venice; the Scaligeri were followed by the Visconti in 1387 and at last, in 1404, by the Republic of Venice. Under the Serenissima the economy passed from the subsistence of small and middling local owners to profit, monopolised by nobles and townsmen.

The village lies in the Chiampo valley, at 672 metres, inside the Lessinia Park. After the Napoleonic period it entered the Lombardo-Veneto Kingdom, in the district of Arzignano, and since then its position has not changed. The chapter worth telling is that of the Second World War. After the armistice of Cassibile the people of the village helped the many disbanded soldiers who passed this way; at the beginning of October 1943 the first partisan formations were born, backed by a good number of local families, who thereby risked Nazi-fascist reprisals. And in the days right after the end of the conflict the village was crossed by the Germans in retreat: some were confronted and disarmed, others looted houses and took hostages.