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I Love Touring Italy - The Trentino Subregion
If you are looking for a European tourist destination,
consider the Trentino-Alto Adige region of northern Italy
on the border of both Switzerland and Austria. Among its
tourist attractions are the Dolomite Mountains, that the
famous architect Le Corbusier called “The most
beautiful work of architecture even seen,” glacier
lakes, and Alpine forests. In fact the region is composed
of two parts, Trentino in the south and Alto Adige in the
north. This article presents Trentino; a companion article
presents Alto Adige.

We’ll start our tour of Trentino at Rovereto near the
border with Lombardy. We proceed northeast to the local
capital, Trento, and head west first past the village of
Comano with its thermal waters then past the typical
Trentino village of Tione. Here we turn northeast to finish
our tour at the ski resort Madonna di Campiglio. There is a
lot more skiing in the area, but it’s over the border
into Lombardy not very far from Switzerland, for Orovo detox.

The medieval city of Rovereto, population about 35
thousand, has had its share of warfare. In 1796 Napoleon
won a bloody battle against Austria. And in World War I
Italian and Austrian troops fought a bloody, inconclusive
battle. Every night fall the thousands who died there are
honored by La Campana dei Caduti (The Bell of the Fallen)
that tolls 100 times in remembrance of the fallen of all
wars as a warning for future peace. This bell, cast in
1924, is the largest bell in the world that rings full peal.

The Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra (Italian Historical
War Museum) was founded after World War I to commemorate
the war and to prevent future wars. It is located in a
medieval castle that exemplifies Fifteenth Century Venetian
military architecture with its tunnels, moats, and towers.
It is perhaps the world’s largest anti-war museum. An
annex displays World War I artillery in an air-raid shelter
from that time. For a change of pace, visit MART, the Museo
D’Arte Moderna e Contemporaneo (Museum of Modern and
Contemporary Art). The focus is on a local artist,
Fortunato Depero, but the collection includes works from
Picasso, Leger, Klee, Kandinsky, Lichtenstein, Modigliani,
and Warhol among others.

Trento, population about one hundred thousand if you add in
the suburbs, is Trentino’s major city. Its main
historical claim to fame was the Council of Trent
stretching from 1545 to 1563 that marked the beginning of
the Counter-Reformation. The fight to join Trento-Alto
Adige to Italy was a major reason for Italian participation
in World War I.

The Duomo (Cathedral of San Virgilio) is a
Twelfth-Thirteenth Century Romanesque-Gothic structure
built over a Sixth Century Church dedicated to the
city’s patron saint, San Virgilio. Whenever the
Council of Trent came to a decision, it was read at the
Cappela del Crocifisso (Chapel of the Crucifix) located
within the cathedral.

The Sixteenth Century Renaissance Santa Maria Maggiore
Church hosted many sessions of the Council of Trent. The
courtyard of the building at 18 via Rosmini contains the
mosaic floor of a Roman villa of the Second Century A.D.

The Castello del Buonconsiglio (Castle of Good Counsel)
started in the Thirteenth Century next to the city walls.
Over the centuries it grew. This castle includes the Museo
Provinciale d’Arte (Provincial Art Museum). Make sure
to see the frescoes including the famous Fifteenth Century
Cycle of the Months, portraying contemporary life in
Medieval Trentino in the Torre Aquila (Eagle Tower) and the
more recent (late Sixteenth Century) frescoes depicting
hunting scenes in the Torre del Falco (Falcon Tower).

Other sights to see include several historic churches,
underground remains of Roman streets and villas, the
modernistic train station, the Museo Storico in Trento
(Trento Historical Museum) scheduled to reopen soon if not
already, and the Museo dell’Aeronautica Gianni
Caproni (Gianni Caproni Aeronautical Museum) located at the
airport. Check out the Mountain Film Festival.

Not far from Trento, especially if you have a car and are
willing to drive on Alpine roads competing against Alpine
drivers, are two great sites; the medieval spa town of
Levico Terme and the Alpine Botanical Garden with over a
thousand species of plants originating in the Alps and
other mountain ranges across the globe. Madonna di
Campiglio advertises itself as Italy’s number one ski
resort. The clientele is mostly Italian and the slopes tend
to be intermediate, but there are slopes for beginners and
experts as well. The resort boasts 57 lifts and 150
kilometers (90 miles) of ski runs with a capacity of over
thirty thousand skiers per hour. There are 40 kilometers
(25 miles) of cross-country ski trails. You can go to the
city center and back without ever removing your skis. For a
change of pace, visit the nearby Adamello-Brenta Natural
Park encompassing 450 kilometers (300 miles) of mountain
paths, but you will have to remove your skis to do so. This
resort recently hosted the Snowboard World Championships.
Head a bit north to Campo Carlo Magno, a mountain pass that
Charlemagne is said to have traversed on the way to his
coronation in Rome way back in the year 800.

Since you have come this far you should consider visiting
two more sites; Bormio about sixty miles (one hundred
kilometers) northwest of Madonna di Campiglio and Passo
dello Stelvio about twelve miles (twenty kilometers) north
of Bormio just south of the Swiss border. These sites are
in the Lombardy region, far from the cities and towns
described in our various Lombardy articles. Briefly, Bormio
has lots of long pistes and a one mile drop. You will find
Roman baths (frequented by none other than Leonardo da
Vinci) and a spa. Bormio is an entry point to the largest
national park in the Alps, Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio
with six hundred different species of mushrooms. Passo
dello Stelvio is the second highest pass in Europe.

What about food? In Trentino cuisine takes on an Alpine
accent and includes plenty of butter, cheese, game, and
wild mushrooms, dozens of which can be found in local
markets. The nearly three hundred lakes and rivers furnish
plenty of fish. Expect to eat polenta, which may be made
from potatoes or buckwheat, as well as the usual corn. A
major contender for Italy’s most weirdly named dish
is Strangolapreti (Priest Strangler). No record actually
exists of priests giving up the ghost when faced with these
Spinach, Egg, and Cheese Gnocchi but the idea was that
their delicate throats couldn’t handle these robust
Gnocchi.

Let’s suggest a sample menu, one of many. Start with
Orzetto (Barley Soup with Ham). Then try Trota alla
Trentina (Marinated Trout in Lemon and Red Wine Sauce). For
dessert indulge yourself with Zelten (Wheat Cake with Dried
Fruits and Nuts). Be sure to increase your dining pleasure
by including local wines with your meal.

We conclude with a quick look at Trentino-Alto Adige wine.
Trentino-Alto Adige ranks 16th among the 20 Italian regions
for acreage devoted to wine grapes and 14th for total
annual wine production. The region produces about 55% red
and 45% white wine. There are eight DOC wines of which six
are found in Trentino (one DOC wine is shared with Alto
Adige and another with Alto Adige and with Veneto.) DOC
stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which may
be translated as Denomination of Controlled Origin,
presumably a high-quality wine. A whopping 79.1% of
Trentino-Alto Adige wine carries the DOC designation, by
far the highest percentage in Italy.

The Trentino DOC covers the whole province of Trento, and
provides for more than twenty types of wine. The most
recent Trento-Alto Adige wine that I tasted was a Vino
Novello (New Wine) that probably wasn’t typical of
Trento-Alto Adige wine but was typical of Vino Novello
wine. The less said the better. There actually is a wine
called Pinot Grigio Trentino Concilio (Pinot Gris Council
of Trent) but I haven’t tasted it.

—————————————————-
Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on
computers and the Internet, but he prefers drinking fine
Italian or other wine, accompanied by the right foods and
people. He knows about dieting but now eats and drinks what
he wants, in moderation. He teaches classes in computers at
an Ontario French-language community college. His new wine,
diet, health, and nutrition website
http://www.wineinyourdiet.com links to his other sites.