Rovereto

Rovereto (; ; "wood of Cornish oaks") is a city and comune in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River.

History

Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the frontier between the bishopric of Trento – an independent state until 1797 – and the republic of Venice, and later between Austrian Tyrol and Italy.

Geography
Rovereto is east of Riva del Garda (at the north-western corner of Lake Garda). Rovereto is the main city of the Vallagarina district.

The town is located at the southern edge of the Italian Alps, near the Dolomites. It is bordered by Monte Cengialto (686m above sea level) to the east.

Main sights
The castle, built by the counts of Castelbarco in the 13th–14th centuries, and later enlarged by the Venetians during their rule of Rovereto.
The Italian War museum (Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra) is located inside the castle. The Italian War Museum was founded in 1921 in remembrance of the First World War and in it are preserved arms and documents relating to wars from the 16th to the 20th centuries.
The mighty bell Maria Dolens, one of the largest outside Russia and East Asia, and the second-largest swinging bell in the world after the St. Peter's Bell of the Cologne Cathedral. Maria Dolens ("the grieving Virgin Mary") was built under the inspiration of a local priest, between 1918 and 1925, to commemorate the fallen in all wars, and to this day it sounds for the dead every day. Originally a patriotic rather than pacifist idea, it is today regarded as a shrine to peace.
MART, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto offers temporary exhibitions, educational activities, and has a remarkable permanent collection.
The Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero, Italy's only museum dedicated to the Futurist movement, containing 3,000 objects. The Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero is one of MART's venues. Closed for many years for extensive refurbishment, it reopened in 2009.

In the area of Lavini di Marco footprints of dinosaurs have been found. The species have been identified as the herbivorous Camptosaurus and carnivorous Dilophosaurus.

Marco also hosts a large landslide which was mentioned by Dante Alighieri in his Divina Commedia: "Qual è quella ruina che nel fianco di qua da Trento l'Adice percosse, o per tremoto o per sostegno manco" (Inferno, canto XII).

Economy

In the past Rovereto was an important centre for the manufacture of silk fabrics. Currently, wine, rubber, chocolate, glasses and coffee are the town's main businesses.

Rovereto is the birthplace (1941) of Sferoflex eyeglasses, now taken over by Luxottica. Other relevant companies located in Rovereto are Marangoni Pneumatici, Sandoz Industrial Products Spa, Cioccolato Cisa, and Metalsistem. Rovereto is also home to Pama S.p.A machine tool builder.

Transport

Rovereto railway station, opened in 1859, forms part of the Brenner railway, which links Verona with Innsbruck.

People
 Armando Aste (born 6 January 1926), influential Italian alpinist of the postwar period
 Gaspare Antonio Cavalcabò Baroni (1682–1759) Baroque painter
 Fortunato Depero (1892–1960), artist
 Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (1763-1842), musician.
 Valerio Fioravanti (born 28 March 1958), founder of the neo-fascist terrorist group Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
 Maria Pia Gardini (1936–2012), entrepreneur and critic of Scientology
 Marco Martinelli (born 1965), a former volleyball player who earned 155 caps for the Italy men's national volleyball team
 Massimo Parziani (born 1992), Motorcycle racer
 Giuliano Pontara (born 1933), professor of philosophy, Stockholm University
 Bianca Laura Saibante (1723—1797), poet 
 Antonio Rosmini-Serbati (1797–1855), priest, philosopher and founder of the Institute of Charity (The Rosminians)
 Paolo Seganti (born 20 May 1965), actor, author
 Elena Tonetta (born 1988), archer and 2005 Junior European Champion
 Girolamo Tartarotti (born 1706), author
 Giuseppe Tomaselli (1758–1836), operatic tenor
 Gustavo Venturi (1830–1898), a bryologist whose herbarium is now kept at the Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali in Trento.
 Riccardo Zandonai (born 1883), composer

Twin towns – sister cities

Rovereto is twinned with:
 Bento Gonçalves, Brazil
 Dolní Dobrouč, Czech Republic
 Forchheim, Germany
 Kufstein, Austria

See also
Vallagarina (district)

References

External links

Official website
Mart, Museo di Arte Moderna di Trento e Rovereto
Blog OcchioDiRovereto
Massa Critica Rovereto
Italian War Museum in Rovereto
ViaggiaRovereto(Android Application) -- Implemented as part of SmartCampus project, the research project founded by  TrentoRise, UNITN, and FBK

Category:Cities and towns in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol