After the arrival of the Lombards led by Alboin (568-569), Trento and those living in the surrounding area became part of a stable structure, the kingdom of the Lombards, which dominated Trentino until the second half of the eighth century.
There are many records that date back to that period. An example is in local names. The “guizza” which is an area above Levico derives from the Lombard word for community pasture and a common local surname “Libardi” derives from “Lombard”.
The source material, however, is not able to clearly state if the Lombards kept a garrison or a castle on the hill in Selva. The Historia Langobardorum by Paolo Diacono, for example, discusses the presence of only duo castra in Alsuca meaning two castles in “Alsuca” referring to Ausugum, the Latin name for Borgo but this may also include the whole Valsugana valley.
The residents of the Valsugana valley had to deal with a lot of devastation during this period. The Hungarians raided the valley in 899 and then, in the following century, there were regular attacks from those competing for the Imperial crown. This is when the local population settled into the castle and may have started the construction of the main defensive structures in stone.
