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But where might these names have come from? The most engaging hypothesis is to relate their arrival to the story of San Simonino.In 1475 the Jewish community of Trento (better known as Trent, where the Catholic church held the eponymous council between 1545 and 1563) was unjustly accused of a horrible crime. In Easter of that year, a three year-old Christian child named Simonino was found dead and the Jewish community was accused of carrying out a ritual killing. The head and other members of the Jewish community were arrested and forced to confess under torture. Some were sentenced to death and burned at the stake. The Jewish community was subsequently banned from Trento and all their assets confiscated. The community retaliated by pronouncing a herem (shunning) against the city of Trento.A most complicated history followed concerning the sanctity of Simonino. There was strong disagreement between the pope, who considered Simonino a fake, and the local bishop, who wanted Simonino to be considered a martyr and declared a saint. In the end Simonino was declared a saint but the argument between the opposing camps went on for centuries. It took some time, but in 1965 Pope Paul VI finally eliminated Simonino from the Calendar of Saints. This opened the way to reconciliation, and a meeting took place in Trento between the Jewish community and the Mayor of Trento. Trento was thus removed from the herem list by the Jewish community.The Simonino story has been the subject of a number of important historical publications. After the Simonino trial, the Jewish community of Trento dispersed and it is possible that part of it ended up in the Non Valley (about 40 km from Trento).But when did these names first appear in the valley? We interviewed Diego Abram from the village of Ronzone, who has done a remarkable job of tracing his family’s origins. He was able to find a Nicolo Abram of 1659 and a Frank Giovanni in 1610, both of whom were born in the valley.Felice Zadra has published a work on his and other Jewish names in the Non Valley, in which he posits that the presence of a Jewish population is much older than previously thought, possibly dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. He also reports the presence of a synagogue in the valley, which was converted into a Christian church during the 13th century.However, again, well-documented studies are lacking.To sum up, we can report that there are definite traces of Jewish heritage in the Non Valley but we cannot define the exact time or origin of this heritage. It should be noted that there are a number of excellent publications regarding a well-documented Jewish presence in this area, particularly in Bolzano and Merano. But in these are cases of a “classic presence,” with Judengasse, synagogues, etc. The interest of our finding is the identification of a Jewish heritage in the absence of a Jewish tradition. Indeed, in the absence of the very notion of heritage itself. It is for this reason that we have preferred the term “hidden” heritage.It is important to note that this Jewish heritage relates to names and culinary traditions, but not to religious faith or to religious traditions. It seems reasonable to suggest that, given the times in which they lived, the Jews were “converted” to Christianity. It seems not unlikely that similar hidden Jewish heritages might be present in other places in Europe or elsewhere.For the delight of lovers of stereotypes, people from this valley are renowned in the region for their parsimoniousness, their ability in dealings with money and their intelligence.Mariapia Bigaran (mpbigaran@alice.it) is a historian. And Franco Bonetti (bonettifranco@hotmail.com) is a tourist.