Lago di Santa Giustina

It is the largest artificial reservoir in Trentino and the one with the greatest volume of water of all the lakes in the region: a capacity of 182 million cubic metres, spread across the centre of the Val di Non between the municipalities of Cles, Novella, Predaia, Sanzeno and Ville d'Anaunia. It is formed by the Santa Giustina dam, which blocks the Noce; its waters drive the 34.5 megawatt turbines of the underground power station at Taio.

The dam is 152.50 metres high and when it was inaugurated, in 1951, it was the highest in Europe. It took five years of work and more than 110,000 cubic metres of concrete. As it filled, the lake submerged about 406 hectares of land with its masi, its roads and some bridges: when the level, which is regulated artificially, falls below the maximum height of 530 metres, some of those bridges re-emerge. They are the ponte dei Regai, the ponte della Mula over the Rio di San Romedio, the ponte Alto over the Noce and the ponte di Banco, which is also on the strada dei Regai.

At the foot of the dam, in the gorge, stand the ruins of the old hermitage of Santa Giustina, which gave its name to the locality: it is documented as early as 1537, it was a destination for processions on liturgical feast days and in times of calamity, and it was inhabited until 1782. You can reach it on foot from Dermulo in about half an hour, along a steep path.