Overview
Val di Non has one of the shortest geographical names on the planet: it is not surprising that even the name of its main town requires only a few letters. Here the people are succinct, and also quite ancient. A bronze slab found in the vicinity in the mid-1800s proves that the Anauni, i.e., the ancestors of today's Nonesi, were by right Cives Romani as early as 46 A.D. at the behest of Emperor Claudius.
A copy of the archaeological tablet with the recognition of citizenship is displayed on the façade of the Palazzo Assessorile, a noble 14th-century building in the city centre, but the original is in Trento, at the Castello del Buonconsiglio. Cles, however, has its own castle, very imposing and one of the best in Trentino, perched on a promontory outside the town. In the 12th century, when Lake Santa Giustina did not exist, the fortification served to control a ford of the Noce River. Its current appearance, with frescoes and a refined coffered ceiling inside, is the result of its transformation into a residence commissioned in the 16th century by Bernardo Clesio, a native of Cles and prince-bishop of Trento. He was also responsible for the reconstruction in Gothic-Renaissance forms of the parish church of Santa Maria Assunta, which today, after other 19th-century interventions, stands on the central roundabout for the town's road system.
As for the lake, it was formed by a dam built in the mid-20th century. There are spots where it is possible to reach the water, but overall it is not considered suitable for bathing, just as the castle, which is privately owned, cannot usually be visited.
