The origins of Trento are uncertain. It lies on the river-route to
Bolzano and the low Alpine passes of
Brenner and the
Reschen Pass through the Alps. Some scholars maintain it was a
Rhaetian settlement: the Adige area was however influenced by neighbouring populations, including the
(Adriatic) Veneti, the
Etruscans and the
Gauls (a
Celtic population). According to other theories, the latter instead founded the city during the 4th century BC. Trento was conquered by the
Romans in the 1st century BC, after several clashes with the Rhaetian tribes.
Julius Caesar re-founded it as a Roman municipality when
Rome extended citizenship to the part of
Cisalpine Gaul north of the
River Po. The Latin name given to the settlement was
Tridentum, meaning "Three-tooth place" or "Trident-town" ( "three" + "tooth"). The reason for the name is uncertain: the new town may have been consecrated to the god
Neptune, or possibly named after the three hills that surround the city (known in Italian as
Doss Trento, ''Doss di Sant'Agata
and Doss di San Rocco
). The Latin name is the source of the adjective "tridentine". On the old city hall, a Latin 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 the
Roman road that led from
Verona to
Innsbruck. of
Buonconsiglio Castle in
International Gothic style After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire, the independent bishopric of Trento was conquered by
Ostrogoths,
Byzantines,
Lombards and
Franks, finally becoming part of the
Holy Roman Empire. In 1027, Emperor
Conrad II created the
Prince-Bishops of Trento, who wielded both temporal and religious powers. In the following centuries, however, the sovereignty was divided between the
Bishopric of Trent and the
County of Tyrol (from 1363 part of the Habsburg monarchy). Around 1200, Trento became a mining center of some significance: silver was mined from the Monte Calisio – Khalisperg, and Prince-Bishop
Federico Wanga issued the first mining code of the alpine region. In the 14th century, the
Habsburg Family that ruled as dukes of
Austria were also the counts of
Tyrol. A dark episode in the history of Trento was the murder of a 3-year-old Christian boy, Simonino, later known as
Simon of Trent, who disappeared in 1475 on the eve of
Good Friday; the city's small Jewish community was accused of killing him and draining his blood for Jewish ritual purposes. 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. In the 16th century, Trento became notable for the
Council of Trent (1545–1563), a council that convened to create a formal reply to the Protestant Reformation, which was a major event in the
Counter-Reformation. The adjective
Tridentine (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 were
Bernardo Clesio (who governed the city from 1514 to 1539 and managed to steer the council to Trento) and
Cristoforo Madruzzo (who governed from 1539 to 1567), both able European politicians and Renaissance
humanists, who greatly expanded and embellished the city. During this period, and as an expression of this Humanism, Trento was also known as the site of a
Jewish printing press. In 1558
Cardinal Madruzzo granted the privilege of printing
Hebrew books to Joseph Ottolengo, a German
rabbi. The actual printer was
Jacob 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. Prince-bishops governed Trento until the Napoleonic era, when it changed hands among various states. Under the
reorganization of the Holy Roman Empire in 1802, the Bishopric was secularized and annexed to the
Habsburg territories. The
Treaty of Pressburg in 1805 ceded Trento to
Bavaria, and the
Treaty of Schönbrunn four years later gave it to Napoleon's
Kingdom of Italy. The population staged armed resistance to French domination. The resistance leader was
Andreas Hofer. During his youth, he lived in Italian Tyrol, where he learned the
Italian 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 or
Schützen) died in battle against the French and Bavarian troops. In 1810, Hofer was captured and brought to
Mantua, and was shot by French soldiers on the express order of Napoleon. With Napoleon's defeat in 1814, Trento was annexed by the
Habsburg Empire. Church government was finally extinguished, and Trento was henceforth governed by the secular administration of
Tyrol. 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. 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 in
malariology. During the late 19th century, Trento and
Trieste, cities with ethnic Italian majorities still belonging to the Austrians, became icons of the Italian
irredentist movement.
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 into
World War I. and the deputy in the Austrian parliament
Cesare Battisti were two well-known local irredentists who had joined the
Italian Army to fight against Austria-Hungary with the aim of bringing the territory of Trento into the new
Kingdom 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 of
Castello del Buonconsiglio. 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. Most served on the Galician front; 700 served with the Italian Army. After
World War I, Trento and its Italian-speaking province, along with
Bolzano (Bozen) and the part of Tyrol that stretched south of the Alpine watershed (which was primarily
German-speaking, as still is to this day), were annexed by Italy. 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 and
South Tyrol became part of the
Operation Zone of the Alpine Foothills, annexed to
Germany. 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 the
Italian Social Republic and wanted to preserve good relations with the Italians. 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 the
Gothic 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 from
Verona to the
Brenner 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 the
Adige river. In spite of the bombings, most of the medieval and renaissance city center was spared. It was finally liberated on 3 May 1945. In 1947, Trento became the host of the
Rally Stella Alpina. Since the 1950s, the region has enjoyed prosperous growth, thanks in part to its special autonomy from the central Italian government. 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. In 2020, Trento was listed as the most sustainable city in Italy, according to the
Smart City Index. == Geography ==