Trento ( or ; Ladin and ; ; ; ; ), also known in English as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th century, the city was the location of the Council of Trent. Formerly part of Austria and Austria-Hungary, it was annexed by Italy in 1919. With 118,142 inhabitants, Trento is the third largest city in the Alps and second largest in the historical region of Tyrol.
Trento is an educational, scientific, financial and political centre in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, in Tyrol and Northern Italy in general. The city contains a picturesque Medieval and Renaissance historic centre, with ancient buildings such as Trento Cathedral and the Castello del Buonconsiglio.
Together with other Alpine towns Trento engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention to achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Trento was awarded the title of Alpine Town of the Year 2004.
The city often ranks highly among Italian cities for quality of life, standard of living, and business and job opportunities, being ranked 5th in 2017. Trento is also one of the nation's wealthiest and most prosperous cities, with its province being one of the richest in Italy, with a GDP per capita of €31,200 and a nominal GDP of €16.563 billion.
The University 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 the Censis ranking and 2nd in the ranking of Italian universities.
The School of International Studies of the University of Trento is a member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (Apsia), 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.
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".
History
The origins of this city on the river-route to Bolzano and the low Alpine passes of Brenner and the Reschen Pass over the Alps are disputed. 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. Before the Romans, Trento was a Celtic village. 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-teeth 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.
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 region of Trento was part of Austria. The dukes of Austria (Habsburg Family) were also the counts of Tyrol and dominated the region for six centuries (1918).