Posina

Posina gives its name to a valley some twenty kilometres long, narrow and V-shaped, linking the Trentino to the Astico valley. On the meaning of that name scholars are divided: some derive it from posse, possession, from the lordship of the counts of Velo; some from fuxina, workshop, like Fusine, on account of the mining and working of metals; and some from pausa, the place where cattle stop to rest. What is certain is that the name appears in 1115 and replaced the older one by which the valley was known, Nigriera.

Living on a border meant reckoning with armies. In 1510, when Maximilian's troops came down from the Borcola pass and the Venetians fled, the people of Posina went over to the Emperor's side to avoid reprisals — as indeed Vicenza did; six years later, with Venice back, the retreating Germans sacked and burned every village in the valley. 1562 was the worst year: a flood carried off three mills and several houses, the winter was one of hunger, and wolves came down from the mountains to attack people in broad daylight even in the larger villages. From here, up the Pasubio, climbs the Road of the 52 Tunnels, the most famous piece of military engineering of the Great War.