Castelbarco

The Castelbarco were a noble house of medieval Trent, recorded in the twelfth century as the bishops' vassals. Briano Castelbarco seized Avio and Lizzana, settling the family in the Vallagarina. His son Azzone allied with Ezzelino III da Romano after Frederick II suspended the bishopric in 1236.

Guglielmo da Castelbarco, lord from 1265, began Sant'Anastasia in Verona, hosted Dante and held Bergamo for Henry VII in 1310. He died without direct heirs in 1320, and his nephews divided his lands. At its height in the mid-fourteenth century, the family's domain reached the gates of Verona and Vicenza and west to Lake Garda.

In 1411 Azzone of Avio bequeathed his fiefs to Venice, which destroyed Lizzana, Albano and Nomesino in 1441. After Agnadello in 1509 the valley passed under Austrian rule; only the Gresta branch survived, moving to Milan in the late seventeenth century.