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Together with other Alpine towns Trento engages in theAlpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of theAlpine Convention to achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Trento was awarded the title of Alpine Town of the Year 2004.
TheUniversity of Trento, founded in 1962 as a Higher University Institute of Social Sciences, is one of the most prestigious medium-small Italian universities, with a strong international vocation. It ranks 1st among 'medium-sized' Universities in theCensis ranking[9] and 2nd in theIl Sole 24 Ore ranking of Italian universities.[10]
The School of International Studies of the University of Trento is a member of theAssociation of Professional Schools of International Affairs (Apsia),[11] a selected group of institutions for higher education in the field of international relations. It is the first, and currently unique, Italian institute and one of the few Europeans present in the club of the best international study schools in the world that form policy makers.[citation needed]
In the last twenty years, thanks to the gradual creation of various research centers (FBK, FEM) and laboratories in the IT, engineering and sciences fields, Trento and its university have been nicknamed the "Silicon Valley of the Alps".[12]
The origins of this city on the river-route toBolzano and the low Alpine passes ofBrenner and theReschen Pass[13] over the Alps are disputed. Some scholars maintain it was aRhaetian settlement: the Adige area was however influenced by neighbouring populations, including the(Adriatic) Veneti, theEtruscans and theGauls (aCeltic population). According to other theories, the latter instead founded the city during the 4th century BC.[citation needed]
Trento was conquered by theRomans in the 1st century BC, after several clashes with the Rhaetian tribes. Before the Romans, Trento was a Celtic village.Julius Caesar re-founded it as a Roman municipality whenRome extended citizenship to the part of Cisalpine Gaul north of the River Po.[14][15] The Latin name given to the settlement wasTridentum, meaning "Three-tooth place" or "Trident-town" (tri- "three" +dēns, dent- "tooth"). The reason for the name is uncertain: the new town may have been consecrated to the godNeptune, or possibly named after the three hills that surround the city (known in Italian asDoss Trento,Doss di Sant'Agata andDoss di San Rocco). The Latin name is the source of the adjective "tridentine". On the old city hall, aLatin inscription is still visible: "Montes argentum mihi dant nomenque Tridentum" ("Mountains give me silver and the name of Trento"), attributed to Fra' Bartolomeo da Trento (died in 1251). Tridentum became an important stop on theRoman road that led fromVerona toInnsbruck.[16]
In the 14th century, theHabsburg Family that ruled as dukes ofAustria were also the counts ofTyrol.
A dark episode in the history of Trento was the murder of a 3-year-old Christian boy, Simonino, later known asSimon of Trent, disappeared in 1475 on the eve ofGood Friday, the city's small Jewish community was accused of killing him and draining his blood for Jewish ritual purposes.[17] Eight Jews were tortured and burned at the stake, and their families forced to convert to Christianity. The bishop of Trento, Johannes Hinderbach, sought (without success) to have Simonino canonized and published the first book printed in Trento,"Story of a Christian Child Murdered at Trento", embellished with 12 woodcuts.[17] In a governmental ceremony in the 1990s, Trento apologized to the Jewish community for this dark episode and unveiled a plaque commemorating the formal apology.[citation needed]
Council of Trent18th-century copy of a late 16th-century map[18] of Trento, northeast at top, showing walled old city and original course of the Adige
In the 16th century, Trento became notable for theCouncil of Trent (1545–1563) which gave rise to theCounter-Reformation.[citation needed] The adjectiveTridentine (as in "Tridentine Mass") literally means pertaining to Trento, but can also refer to that specific event. Among the notable prince-bishops of this time wereBernardo Clesio (who governed the city from 1514 to 1539 and managed to steer the council to Trento) andCristoforo Madruzzo (who governed from 1539 to 1567), both able European politicians and Renaissancehumanists, who greatly expanded and embellished the city.[citation needed]
During this period, and as an expression of this Humanism, Trento was also known as the site of aJewish printing press. In 1558 Cardinal Madruzzo granted the privilege of printingHebrewbooks to Joseph Ottolengo, a Germanrabbi. The actual printer wasJacob Marcaria, a local physician; after his death in 1562, the activity of the press of Riva di Trento ceased. Altogether, 34 works were published in the period from 1558 to 1562, most of them bearing the coat of arms of Madruzzo.[19]
The population staged armed resistance to French domination.[citation needed] The resistance leader wasAndreas Hofer. During his youth, he lived in Italian Tyrol, where he learned theItalian language. When Hofer recovered Trento for the Austrians (1809), he was welcomed with enthusiasm by the population of Trento. Approximately 4,000 Trentinian volunteers (Sìzzeri orSchützen) died in battle against the French and Bavarian troops. In 1810, Hofer was captured and brought toMantua, and was shot by French soldiers on the express order of Napoleon.[citation needed]
With Napoleon's defeat in 1814, Trento was annexed by theHabsburg Empire. Church government was finally extinguished, and Trento was henceforth governed by the secular administration ofTyrol. In the following decades, Trento experienced a modernization of administration and economy with the first railroad in the Adige valley opening in 1859. The entire Mediterranean basin was at risk of malaria, a factor that affected the entire Italian peninsula and this Alpine region was not spared. Even Tuscany was particularly hard hit; malaria existed far inland into the Veneto area, reaching the Italian Alps.[20] From 1918 to 1940, government figures show Italy's malaria deaths decreased by 96%, due to the efforts of the Rockefeller Foundation and Italy's own malaria experts, who themselves were international leaders inmalariology.[21]
During the late 19th century, Trento andTrieste, cities with ethnic Italian majorities still belonging to the Austrians, became icons of the Italianirredentist movement.[citation needed]Benito Mussolini briefly joined the staff of a local newspaper in 1909, but left Trento because they could not create an anti-Austrian group. There was dissatisfaction with the lack of provincial autonomy and the failure to establish a university for the region. Feelings of loyalty were focused on the 'father-figure' emperor, not for Austria.
The nationalist cause led Italy intoWorld War I. Damiano Chiesa and the deputy in the Austrian parliamentCesare Battisti were two well-known local irredentists who had joined theItalian Army to fight against Austria-Hungary with the aim of bringing the territory of Trento into the newKingdom of Italy. The two men were taken prisoners at the nearby southern front. They were put on trial for high treason and executed in the courtyard ofCastello del Buonconsiglio.[citation needed]
The region was greatly affected during the war, and some of its fiercest battles were fought on the surrounding mountains in the southernmost regions and the southeast. Of a population of just less than 400,000 in the province, 55,000 men served in the Imperial and Royal Army of whom 11,000 died.[citation needed] Most served on the Galician front; 700 served with the Italian Army. AfterWorld War I, Trento and its Italian-speaking province, along withBolzano (Bozen) and the part of Tyrol that stretched south of the Alpine watershed (which was primarilyGerman-speaking, as still is to this day), were annexed by Italy.[citation needed]
In July 1943 Mussolini was removed as Prime Minister when the allies invaded Sicily. Italy surrendered to the Allies, and declared war on Germany. German troops promptly invaded northern Italy and the provinces of Trento,Belluno andSouth Tyrol became part of theOperation Zone of the Alpine Foothills, annexed toGermany. Some German-speakers wanted revenge upon Italian-speakers living in the area, but were mostly prevented by the occupying German troops, who still considered Mussolini head of theItalian Social Republic and wanted to preserve good relations with the Italians.[citation needed] From November 1944 to April 1945, Trento was bombed as part of the so-called "Battle of the Brenner". War supplies from Germany to support theGothic Line were for the most part routed via the rail line through the Brenner Pass. Over 6,849 sorties were flown by the Allies over targets fromVerona to theBrenner Pass, with 10,267 tons of bombs dropped. Parts of the city were hit by the Allied bombings, including the church of S. Maria Maggiore, the Church of the Annunciation and several bridges over theAdige river. In spite of the bombings, most of the medieval and renaissance city center was spared. It was finally liberated on 3 May 1945.[citation needed]
Since the 1950s, the region has enjoyed prosperous growth, thanks in part to its special autonomy from the central Italian government.[citation needed]
On 4 August 2015, the cathedral tower caught fire by "spontaneous combustion". The clock stopped at 10:50 AM, a matter of minutes after the fire began.[citation needed]
In 2020, Trento was listed as the most sustainable city in Italy, according to the Smart City Index.[22]
The township of Trento encompasses the city centre as well as many suburbs of extremely varied geographical and population conditions (from the industrial suburb of Gardolo, just north of the city, to tiny mountain hamlets on Monte Bondone). Various distinctive suburbs still retain their traditional identity of rural or mountain villages.
Trento lies in a wideglacial valley known as theAdige valley, just south of theDolomite Mountains, where the Fersina River andAvisio rivers join theAdige River (the second longest river in Italy). River Adige is one of the three primary south-flowing Alpine rivers; its broadly curving course alongside Trento was straightened in 1850.[23] The valley is surrounded by mountains, including Vigolana (2,150 m (7,050 ft)), Monte Bondone (2,181 m (7,156 ft)),Paganella (2,124 m (6,969 ft)), Marzola (1,747 m (5,732 ft)) andMonte Calisio (1,096 m (3,596 ft)). Nearby lakes includeLake Caldonazzo, Lake Levico,Lake Garda and Lake Toblino.
The municipality of Trento stretches across a wide range of altitude levels, going from just under 200 m above sea level at the city centre, to 400 m in Povo and Cognola, to 2000 m above sea level at Monte Bondone, boroughs at higher elevation, for instanceViote, have a colder alpine climate (Dw). Urban Trento has ahumid subtropical-continental climate (Cfa-Dfa) according to theKöppen climate classification. Monthly average temperatures range between 1.6 °C (January) and 23.4 °C (July). Average annual precipitation exceeds 900 mm spread out on an average of 87 days, with peaks in late spring (May–June, 90 mm monthly average in 9–10 rain days) and autumn (October–November: 100–110 mm monthly average in 7–8 days), and lows in winter (January–February, 30–40 mm monthly average in 3–4 rain days). Winters are cold to freezing, with infrequent snowfall but usual frost from mid-November to mid-March.[citation needed] In winter, daytime highs may not exceed 5 °C and lows may rarely dip down to -10 °C, but the former usually stand around 8°C, while the latter usually hover between -3 °C to 0 °C. Spring brings unpredictable weather with wind blowing north to south or vice-versa through the valley. Many spring days are pleasant, but the transition may be very quick, for example going from frosty mornings to 30 °C in two months. In May, it is possible to have either rainy days with daytime highs below 18 °C, or sunny days with the temperature soaring up to 30 °C. Summers are hot, sometimes sweltering, with highs getting to 35 °C at least for a week a year and more rarely to 38 °C.[citation needed] Summer nights can be hot as well, with overnight lows hovering around 22-24 °C (in the hilly suburbs east, north and west of Trento summer nights can be much cooler, with overnight temperature differing by up to 6 °C from the ones experienced in the city centre[citation needed]). Early fall is pleasant, with foliage starting around mid-October at higher elevations, late October in the uphill suburbs and in November downtown. Fall days can be humid, grey and dim, with temperatures rapidly declining through October and November. The first snowfall in the suburbs may occur as early as late November, with December and early January being the snowiest period of the year.[citation needed]
Climate data for Trento Laste, elevation: 312 m (1981–2010, extremes 1958–2010)
As of December 2023, there were 119.180 people residing in Trento, of whom 48% were male and 52% were female. Children (ages 14 and younger) totalled 12.6 percent of the population compared to the elderly (ages 65 and above) who numbered 24.4 percent. The average age of Trento residents is 45.5 compared to the Italian average of 46.8. In the five years between 2018 and 2023, the population of Trento grew by 0.72 percent, whileItaly as a whole declined by 1.51 percent.[26] The current[when?] birth rate of Trento is 9.61 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.[27]
The city owes much of its unique economy to its position along the main communication route between Italy and Northern Europe and to the Adige river which, prior to its diversion in the mid-19th century, ran through the center of the city. The Adige river was formerly a navigable river and one of the main commercial routes in the Alps. The original course of the river is now covered by the Via Torre Vanga, Via Torre Verde and the Via Alessandro Manzoni.
University of Trento, Faculty of Science
As late as World War II, Trento depended on wine-making and silk.[28] Sparkling wine made in the Trentino province is part of theTrento DOC classification. The manufacturing industry installed in the post-war period has been mostly dismantled. Today, Trento thrives on commerce, services, tourism, high-quality agriculture and food industry (including wine and fruit), as a research and conference center thanks to a small but renowneduniversity and internationally renowned research centers such asFondazione Bruno Kessler, active in both fundamental and applied research, the Italian-German Historical Institute, the Centre for Computational and Systems Biology and ECT*, active in theoretical nuclear studies and part of FBK, and as logistics and transportation thoroughfare.[citation needed]
Valued pink and whiteporphyry are still excavated from some surrounding areas (Pila).[citation needed] This stone can be seen in many of Trento's buildings, both new and old.
The city has two long-running annual sporting events: theGiro al Sas (a 10 km (6 mi) professional road running competition) was first held in the city in 1907 and continues to the present,[29] while theGiro del Trentino is an annualroad cycling race which the city has hosted every year since 1963.[30]
The Festival dell’Economia di Trento (Economy Festival of Trento) was brought into being in 2006[citation needed] in order to enable and facilitate discussions between economists and a broad public. The aim of this festival is to put economic terminology across to everyone. The festival takes place every year at the end of May on the historic Palazzi of the old town in Trento. Well known economists explain and interpret current economic issues, both from an economic-scientific as well as from a social and entrepreneurial viewpoint. In the course of recent years, numerous economic scholars and managers such as SirAnthony Atkinson,Fan Gang,Zygmunt Bauman and the Nobel Prize winnerGary Becker took an active part.[31]
Trento is governed by the City Council of Trento. Voters elect directly 40 councilors and the mayor of Trento every five years. The current mayor of Trento isFranco Ianeselli, elected for the first time on 21 September 2020. Ianeselli, a former trade unionist, was elected as a left-leaning independent with the support of a wide coalition of parties. These parties ranged from the left (as in the case of Europa Verde) to the Catholic centre (including Partito Autonomista Trentino Tirolese, and Insieme per Trento). When determining the composition of his Giunta (the equivalent of a City Cabinet), Ianeselli selected seven members of the City Council: Monica Baggia, Elisabetta Bozzarelli, Mariachiara Franzoia, Chiara Maule, Salvatore Panetta, Roberto Stanchina, and Paolo Zanella. However, in late November 2020 Paolo Zanella announced he would leave his position as a member of the Giunta, in order to fill a vacancy in one of the 35 seats of the legislative assembly of the Trentino province, upon the resignation of member Paolo Ghezzi. Shortly after, mayor Ianeselli announced Ezio Facchin as Zanella's successor.
In 1996, a joint session between the states, further cultural and economic integration between the Austrian province ofTyrol and the Italian autonomous provinces ofSouth Tyrol andTrentino was mutually agreed on.[32] This activity was steadily extended, eventually followed by the creation of theEuroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino in 2011.[33][34]
Although off the beaten path of mass tourism, Trento offers rather interesting monuments. Its architecture has a unique feel, with both Italian Renaissance and Roman influences. The city center is small, and most Late-Medieval and Renaissance buildings have been restored to their original pastel colours and wooden balconies. Part of the medieval city walls is still visible in Piazza Fiera, along with a circular tower. Once, these walls encircled the entire city and were connected to the Castello del Buonconsiglio.The main monuments of the city include:
Cattedrale di San Vigilio (Cathedral ofSaint Vigilius), also known asDuomo di Trento (12th–13thcentury) is a Romanesque-Gothic cathedral built on top of a late-Roman basilica (viewable in an underground crypt).
Piazza Duomo (1767–1768), on the side of the cathedral, has frescoed Renaissance buildings and the Late Baroque Fountain of Neptune (Fontana di Nettuno).
Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (1520), site of the preparatory congregations of the Third Council of Trent (April 1562 – December 1563). It was built for BishopBernardo Clesio by the architect Antonio Medaglia in Renaissance-Gothic style. The façade has a notable 16th-century portal, while the interior has works byGiambettino Cignaroli andMoroni.
Castello del Buonconsiglio (Buonconsiglio Castle) (13th century), which includes a museum and the notable Torre dell'Aquila, with a cycle of fine Gothic frescoes depicting the months, was commissioned by the prince-bishop Georg von Lichtenstein.
Church of San Pietro (12th century) features a neo-Gothic façade added in 1848–1850.
Church of Sant'Apollinare (13th century) is a Gothic church.
Church of San Lorenzo (12th century) features a Romanesque apse.
Torre Verde (Green Tower), along the former transit path of theAdige river, is said to be where persons executed in the name of the Prince-Bishop were deposited in the river.
Palazzo delle Albere (Palace of the Trees), a Renaissance villa next to the Adige river built around 1550 by the Madruzzo family, now hosting a modern art museum.
Palazzo Pretorio (12th century), next to the Duomo, with a bell tower (Torre Civica) of the 13th century that now hosts a collection of baroque paintings of religious themes. It was the main Bishops' residence until the mid-13th century.
Palazzo Salvadori (1515) is one of the first examples of Renaissance civil architecture in the city.
Palazzo Geremia (15th century) features a Renaissance exterior and Gothic interiors.
Palazzo Lodron, built during the Council of Trent. The interior has a large fresco cycle.
Various underground remains of the streets and villas of the Roman city (in Via Prepositura and Piazza Cesare Battisti).
Trento also sportsmodernist architecture, including the train station and the central post office, both by rationalist architectAngiolo Mazzoni. In particular, the train station (1934–36) is considered a landmark building of Italian railways architecture and combines many varieties of local stone with the most advanced building materials of the time: glass, reinforced concrete, metal. The post office was once decorated with colored windows byFortunato Depero, but these were destroyed during bombings in World War II. Other buildings of that time include the Grand Hotel by Giovanni Lorenzi with some guest rooms furnished with futurist furniture by Depero, and the "R. Sanzio" Primary School built in 1931–34 and designed byAdalberto Libera.
The Tridentine Diocesan Museum, located in thePalazzo Pretorio [it], next to the Cathedral Square of Trento, shows the artistic treasures of the diocese of Trento as well as the influence of the council on the city.
Viote Alpine Botanical Garden, located on Monte Bondone inLe Viote, founded in 1938. Trento's surroundings are known for the mountain landscapes and are a destination of both summer and winter tourism.
Bus or train services operate to the main surrounding valleys: Fassa, Fiemme, Gudicarie, Non, Primiero, Rendena, Sole, Tesino,Valsugana.
The public transport network within the city consists of 20 bus lines operated by Trentino Trasporti and acable car service toSardagna. The various railway stations within Trento's city limits are integrated into the public transport network.
A.C. Trento S.C.S.D. is one of the oldest football clubs in the region ofTrentino Alto Adige since its foundation in 1921. Starting in 2021, the club is to play in the third highest Italian league, theSerie C.
PalaTrento, now known asBLM Group Arena, opened in 2000, is anindoor arena with a capacity of 4300 seats. Trentino Volley and Aquila Basket Trento play their respective games there.
Stadio Briamasco is a football stadium with a capacity of 4277 seats and is currently the home stadium of AC Trento.
Martino Martini (1614–1661), Jesuit missionary, geographer, historian and missionary
Paolo Oss Mazzurana (1833–1895), Trento's most notable mayor, with progressive economic policies that impacted Trento's commercial sector and its eventual independence
^Patuzzi, Umberto (2013).Unsarne Börtar [Our Words](PDF) (in Italian, German, and Cimbrian). Lucerna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien. p. 9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
^Griffith Taylor, "Trento to the Reschen Pass: A Cultural Traverse of the Adige Corridor",Geographical Review30.2 (April 1940:215–237), "The site and evolution of the town of Trento", pp 220-.
^III [i.e. Terza] Rassegna internazionale d'arte Acireale ... Matteo Donato, Antonino Rizzo - 1969 "La barriera » - frottage a colori 50 x 60 « Fondale incandescente » - frottage a colori 50 x 60 ALDO PANCHERI è nato a Trento nel 1940 Personali a Trento e Brescia. Ha partecipato a vane esposizioni collettive ed in particolare: 1963."
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