Trentino

Trentino (Lombard, Venetian and Ladin: Trentin, German: Trient), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italian: provincia autonoma di Trento), is an autonomous province of Italy in the country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region under the constitution. The province is composed of 166 comuni (municipalities). Its capital is the city of Trento (Trent). The province covers an area of more than 6,000 km² (2,300 sq mi), with a total population of 541,098 in 2019.

Trentino has a complex history shaped by its position between Italian and Central European cultural spheres. In antiquity, it was inhabited by the Raetian people before being incorporated into the Roman Empire as part of the province of Raetia. During the Middle Ages, Trentino became part of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent within the Holy Roman Empire and later fell under Austrian rule until the end of World War I. Following the war and the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919), South Tyrol was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy which separated it into two provinces renamed in 1923 as "Trentino" and "Alto Adige". It gained autonomy after World War II under Austrian protection.

Trentino is characterized by its mountainous terrain, notably the Dolomites, which form part of the Alps. The region also exhibits significant linguistic diversity: while Italian is the predominant language, communities speaking Ladin and the German dialects of Mócheno and Cimbrian preserve distinct linguistic traditions that reflect its Alpine and Central European heritage.

The province is generally known as "Trentino". The name derives from Trento, the capital city of the province. Originally, the term was used by the local population only to refer to the city and its immediate surroundings. Under former Austrian rule, which began in the 19th century (previously, Trentino was governed by the local bishop), the common German name for the region was Welschtirol (lit. 'Walhaz, meaning Foreign Tyrol') or Welschsüdtirol (lit. 'Walhaz/Foreign South Tyrol'), or just Südtirol, meaning South Tyrol with reference to its geographic position as the southern part of Tyrol.

The corresponding Italian name was Tirolo Meridionale, which was historically used to describe the wider southern part of the County of Tyrol, specifically Trentino and sometimes also today's South Tyrol, or Tirolo Italiano. In its wider sense, Trentino was first used around 1848 in an article by a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly; it became a popular term among leftist intellectual circles in Austria.

Since the new 1972 autonomous status, the administrative name of the province is autonomous province of Trento (Italian: provincia autonoma di Trento; German: Autonome Provinz Trient).

The history of Trentino begins in the mid-Stone Age. The valleys of what is now Trentino were already inhabited by man, the main settlements being in the valley of the Adige River, thanks to its milder climate.

In the early Middle Ages, this area was included within the Kingdom of Italy and the March of Verona. In 1027, the Bishopric of Trent was established as a State of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Conrad II. It was an ecclesiastical territory, roughly corresponding to the present-day Trentino, governed by the Prince-Bishops of Trento.