The name Ferrara almost certainly goes back to the iron deposits that the Romans exploited in the valley by putting slaves to work there. During the 6th century the Baldo territory came under Lombard rule and in the next century under that of the Franks. In the 13th century, the Baldo area came under Longobard rule and in the following century under Frankish rule. The valley was the scene of warfare both during the Napoleonic campaigns in Italy and during the Risorgimento wars. The area of the municipality has always been sparsely populated. The economy, which today consists mainly of tourism, was based on the activity of woodcutters and alpine farming. In Novezzina, the hamlet situated at 1232 m above sea level, the Monte Baldo Botanical Garden has been established, where the flowers of the massif can be admired. The institution collects species that are unique in the world, because Monte Baldo is an isolated ecosystem: hence the name Hortus Europae. The botanical garden houses hundreds of exclusively native species, the result of the attention of botanists over the past centuries who identified previously unknown species on Baldo. Above the botanical garden, to the north, in a basin, the new astronomical observatory of Monte Baldo is being built, planned and managed by the Circolo Astrofili Veronesi 'A. Cagnoli' is planned and managed.