Walking among Rovereto, noble and high cultured town, the first impression is of a place that extends into its narrow streets and porticos and into time as well, in the succession of architectures, of historical events and of the daily life of its people.
The town centre, in ...
Walking among Rovereto, noble and high cultured town, the first impression is of a place that extends into its narrow streets and porticos and into time as well, in the succession of architectures, of historical events and of the daily life of its people.
The town centre, in fact, resumes a common history made of men, who, watching over the ancient boundaries between Italy and Tyrol, developed commerce and the silk industry, getting advantages for the whole town.
In this way, in the XVIII and XIX centuries, wealth accumulated with work were turned into those artistic and literary ideals which make Rovereto a cultural town still nowadays, as the new seat of the Mart, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trent and Rovereto, testify.
Already inhabited in the Roman period, the first written documents about Rovereto history are dated back to the XIII century, when the Castelbarco family, built the imposing castle in opposition to the authority of Trent bishops. In the following centuries the town passed first under the Venetian rule and then, in 1509, when the league of Cambrai defeated the Venetians, passed under the Austrian Emperor Maximilian I. Since then the aspect of the fortified citadel began to change into an important commercial and industrial centre. At the beginning of 1500 the art of twisting silk was introduced, boosting the manufacturing industry, especially in Ala, the town also known as "the velvet town" thanks to the beauty and elegance of fabric produced there.
In the second half of the XVIII century Rovereto was the main industrial centre in Trentino, and civil and intellectual progress joined the industrial one, giving the title of "little Athens of Trentino" to the town. Indeed here lived and worked people such as Tartarotti and Vannetti, the architect Ambrogio Rosmini, the painter Baroni, the musician Ferrari, and others again whose memories are still kept in the Town Library.
In such an active intellectual context, Mary Therese of Austria founded the Academy of the Agiati, and promoted erudite studies, literature and scientific researches. The climax of this intense cultural activity was reached in 1800 with the catholic philosopher Antonio Rosmini.
Eventually, in the XX century, the area of Rovereto became the theatre of violent slaughter during the two World Wars: in the close mountains of Vallarsa and Pasubio many people died. Nowadays the memories of those cruel fights are silently commemorated by many monuments in the town and in its outskirts. The Bell of Peace, forged with the bronze of the cannons and the Memorial in Castel Dante are two examples of that.
In Rovereto outskirts it is worth a visit to Ala, the velvet town, the wonderful
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