Trentino-Alto Adige

Trentino-Alto Adige is an autonomous region dominated by the Dolomite Mountains of northern Italy, consisting of the provinces of Trento and Bolzano. Conquered by the Romans in 15 BC, this territory was divided among various Germanic tribes with the collapse of the empire. The region was reunited during the Napoleonic era, and passed to the Hapsburgs in 1815. The Italians "liberated" the region from the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I.

Trentino (Provincia Autonoma di Trento)
Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II established the Bishopric of Trent in 1027. Over the years, this region came alternately under Bavarian, Tyrolean, and Venetian influence, but Bernardo Cles reasserted the authority of the Prince-Bishops in the 16th century.		The Hapsburgs exerted ever- increasing control over the Trentino during the 17th and 18th centuries. After Napoleon secularized the bishopric in 1803, the province changed hands several times before finally passing to the County of Tyrol in 1815.
Despite this historical German influence, the population has remained predominantly Italian-speaking since the time of the Counter-Reformation.

Trento (Trent)
	The Roman city "Tridentum" — whose name refers to three hills surrounding the city — was founded on the site of an earlier Rhaetian settlement in the 1st century BC.


		The city has remained relatively independent and prosperous throughout its history.

Trento owes its nickname, the "Painted City", to the large number of colorful Renaissance palaces which still grace its historic center. It also boasts a number of well-preserved Medieval and Baroque edifices.


		The city also developed into a center of silver mining during the Middle Ages.

	Trento has profited through the centuries from its location on the banks of the Adige River, a vital trade route between Italy and Northern Europe. In the 19th century, the river was diverted to its current course at the edge of town.


Trento entered its 16th-century "golden age" under the leadership of Prince-Bishop Bernardo Cles.			His successor, Cristoforo Madruzzo, hosted the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1563.

The assembled bishops attempted to confront the "heresies" of the Protestant Reformation.			Among their reforms was a standardized "Tridentine" mass, and a ban on the sale of indulgences.

Practical Information

We stayed in Trento for four nights in August 2007.

Hotel: We stayed in the Grand Hotel, a luxury hotel conveniently located at the edge of the historic dstrict
Restaurants: We ate at several good restaurants in the historic center, including the Green Tower, Pizzeria alla Grotta, and the Ristorante Al Vo'
Transportation: We used our rental car for day trips to the surrounding areas

Gruppo di Brenta
	The Brenta Massif, the westernmost outcropping of the Dolomites, lies just across the Adige Valley from Trento.

	Castles dot the countryside, overlooking charming lakes and dramatic valleys.

	The remarkable Val di Genova, with its stunning waterfalls, is particularly scenic.

Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano (Südtirol \| South Tyrol)
The area which the Italians call Alto Adige (Upper Adige) is better known by its German-speaking inhabitants as Südtirol — a reminder of the province's legacy as the southern part of the Austrian region of Tyrol.		Italy wrested control of this region during World War I, fighting among its Alpine peaks. Mussolini fostered "Italianization" in the 1920s-30s, while his Nazi ally, Hitler, offered South Tyroleans the option to emigrate to the Reich.
Despite these efforts, two-thirds of the province's population still speak German as their first language. The entry of Austria into the European Union in 1995 — allowing for the formation of a borderless transnational Euroregion — has lessened ethnic tensions in the province, and reduced calls for independence or reunification with Austria.

Bolzano (Bozen)
	The "Gateway to the Dolomites" lies near the confluence of the Isarco (Eisack) and Adige (Etsch), on the site of an ancient Roman garrison.

	The city was founded in the 11th century by the Prince-Bishops of Trento, and prospered as a regional market center.

	Merano (Meran)
	Located on the Passirio River in the Val Venosta, Merano enjoys a deceptively mild climate.

	Like the provincial capital, Merano began as a Roman outpost, and became a city in the 13th century.

	Merano served as capital of the County of Tyrol from 1418 to 1848. However, the city declined in prominence after Friedrich IV moved his court to Innsbruck in 1420. In 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, Tyrolean patriots won a minor victory over French and Bavarian troops.

	In more recent years, Merano's Mediterranean climate has fostered a thriving tourist industry. Merano also played host to the 1981 World Chess Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Victor Korchnoi, featuring an opening gambit named for the town.

Le Dolomit i
	Once known simply as "Monti Pallidi", the Dolomite Mountains were renamed for a French minerologist.

Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu (1750-1801) determined that the sedimentary rocks which pervade this range of the Alps are composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, a never-before-seen mineral now known as "dolomite" in his honor.

	The Dolomites are the result of millions of years of geologic activity. Fossilized marine creatures remind us that this was once the bottom of a prehistoric sea.

In fact, the stratification of sedimentary layers of these mountains resembles that of modern coral atolls.		Eventually, this seabed was thrust upward to form a mountain range — and subjected to glacial erosion.


	The Dolomites are administratively divided among three Italian provinces — Trento, Bolzano, and Belluno, in the Veneto Region.

		During World War I, the front lines between the Italians and Austro-Hungarian forces ran among the peaks of this range. Abandoned fortifications are all that remain of this epic Alpine struggle.
The inhabitants of the Dolomites developed a variety of local traditions, owing to their isolation from each other for much of the year, and the influence of Tridentine, Tyrolean, or Venetian culture.

In addition to Italian and German, a sizeable minority speak Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language closely related to Venetian, Friulian and Swiss Romansh.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Lying to the east of the Dolomites, in the far northeast corner of the country, Friuli-Venezia Giulia is another autonomous Italian border region wrested from the Hapsburgs during World War I. It is composed of the overlapping historical regions of Friuli and the Julian Marches. Italian defeat in World War II meant the loss of much of this territory to Yugoslavia — modern-day Slovenia and Croatia.

Trieste
Trieste was subjected to Roman rule in 177 BC, and remained a Byzantine outpost after the collapse of the western empire. It came under Frankish control in 788 AD, and developed into a free commune in the 12th century.		After a brief Venetian occupation (1369-72), Trieste passed to the Hapsburgs in 1382. The city flourished as an Austrian free port in the 18th century, and was designated a "free imperial city" after the Napoleonic Wars.
Italy annexed Trieste in 1920, cutting it off from its Central Europe hinterland. At the end of World War II, Yugoslavs occupied the city, which came under Allied administration after the war. The city was returned to Italian control in 1954.

Aviano
	On our way to Russia in the July 2003, we checked in at Aviano Airbase, located in the Alpine foothills an hour's drive north of Venice.

	We returned to Aviano on our way back from Russia in August 2007. This time around, we not only picked up Craig's military records, we also took delivery of a brand-new new Mini Cooper S, which we proceeded to ship (at government expense) to our next assignment at Langley AFB, Virginia.