Father Borghesi's story takes place in the picturesque mountainous region of what was then known as Venezia Tridentina (since 1947, Trentino-Alto Adige) in northern Italy, along the Tyrolean border of Austria. Because of its strategic position as the passage between Innsbruck and Verona, the possession of the Tridentina was contested again and again in the European wars, but during Father Borghesi's lifetime, the Tridentina was under Austrian domination. [Illustration: Figure 3.--PANORAMA of the village of Mechel in the valley of the Non, birthplace of Father Borghesi.] Deep within this mountainous district is the romantic valley of the Non, or Anauni, with its great forests and ancient castles. Most maps do not mark it, and the tourist guides ignore it.[7] One of the chief communities is Cles, with its historic Renaissance buildings. The major city of the region is Trent on the Adige River, with its surviving Roman relics and Romanesque and Renaissance architecture. The little villages scattered throughout the valley of the Non played no part in history, but such names as Mechel and Mocenigo di Rumo reflect the interchange of sovereignty. It was in the little village of Mechel that Francesco Borghesi was born in 1723.[8] Local records are meager and inadequate, and many of the details of Borghesi's life must be assumed. Inasmuch as the village was in a rural, agricultural district, Borghesi may have come from a family of farmers, vintners, or village tradesmen. Borghesi sought an education by entering the priesthood and was ordained a secular priest in Salzburg. He was first assigned as curate to the village parish of Rumo in the valley of the Non, a short distance from his birthplace.[9] Later, he was transferred to his native Mechel. He was inherently a man of simple tastes and of great piety. He tended to the needs of his mountain villagers and attended the births, weddings and deaths of his parishioners. It was during his assignment in this tiny community that Father Borghesi met and became friendly with the clockmaker, Bartolomeo Antonio Bertolla of nearby Mocenigo di Rumo. Clockmaker Bertolla Bartolomeo Antonio Bertolla was born in Mocenigo di Rumo, a short distance from Mechel, in 1702.[10] Nothing is known of his boyhood, other than the fact that he was mechanically inclined. At the age of 17 he was apprenticed to become a clockmaker with the master, Johann Georg Butzjaeger of Neulengbach, a small village on the edge of the great Vienna woods.[11] This region was then part of the domain of the Archduke of Austria, of which Sankt Poelten was the capital.