TRENTO (Lat. Tridentum; Ger. Trent or Trient), the capi tal of a province in the district of Venezia Tridentina, Italy. Pop. 0930, 38,176, town; 56,76o, commune. It stands on the left bank of the Adige where this river is joined by the Fersina, and is a station on the Brenner railway, 35 m. S. of Bolzano and 561. m. N. of Verona, while a railway runs along the Fersina valley and the Val Sugana to Bassano (6o m.). There is also an electric railway to Male (45 m. N.). It has a very picturesque appear ance, especially when approached from the north, with its em battled walls and towers filling the whole breadth of the valley. A conspicuous feature in the view is the isolated rock Doss Trento (the site of the Roman Verruca), that rises on the right bank of the Adige to a height of 3o8 ft. above the city. The cathedral (dedicated to San Vigilio, the first bishop) was altered at various times between the 11th and 15th centuries, and was restored in 1882-89. Outside is the fine fountain of Neptune (1767-69). The Renaissance church of Santa Maria Maggiore, built in 1520-39, was the scene of the sessions of the famous Oecumenical Council (see p. 454) which lasted, with several breaks, from 1545 to 1563, during the episcopate of Cristoforo Madruzzo. To the east of
the city rises the Castello del Buon Consiglio, for centuries the residence of the prince-bishops, which is decorated with interest ing frescoes, and contains the museum of antiquities and fine arts for the district. Opposite the railway station a statue of Dante by Zocchi was erected in 1896.
Tridentum, the capital of the Tridentini, was a station on the great road from Verona to Veldidena (Innsbruck) over the Brenner. It was later ruled by the Ostrogoths (5th century) and the Lombards (6th century) after the conquest of whom by the Franks (774) Trento became part of the kingdom of Italy. But in 1027 the emperor Conrad II. bestowed all temporal rights in the region on the bishop (the see dates from the 4th century) and transferred it to Germany, an event which fixed all its later history. The Venetian attacks were finally repulsed in 1487, and the bishop retained his temporal powers till 1803 when they passed to Austria. In 1814 the Trentino was formally annexed to the Austrian province of Tirol. Trento became an Italian city in 1919, when the Trentino passed from Austrian to Italian hands.