From the early 10th century onward, Pontebbana Creek formed the border between the March of Verona, the former Lombard Duchy of Friuli to the south, and the Bavarian March of Carinthia to the north. After the 1420 conquest of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, the settlement of Pontebba south of the creek belonged to the "Domini di Terraferma" of Venice. The corresponding settlement of "Pontafel" north of the bridge belonged to the Carinthian Canal Valley, an exclave held by the Imperial Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg, which was incorporated into the Inner Austrian territories of the Habsburg dynasty in 1759.