Cities in the Dolomites
The Dolomites are part of three Italian provinces: South Tyrol (Bolzano), Trentino and Belluno. A glance at their main cities.
The capital of the bilingual (Italian and German) province of Bolzano is – how surprising – Bolzano. The first records of the history of Bolzano date back to the 1st century BC when the Romans founded a garrison in this area on their way north. The town of Bolzano was founded more than 800 years ago. Nowadays it has around 100,000 inhabitants and it is also home to the 5,000-year-old Iceman Ötzi.
Bressanone in the Valle d’Isarco is another main city of the province of Bolzano. The first mention of Bressanone dates back to 901 AD. In the 11th century Brixen became the seat of an ecclesiastical principate. The town is still today an important Catholic religious centre and the seat of the bishop. About 19,000 people live in Bressanone.
The capital of the province Trentino is Trento. The name probably comes from the Romans. They called their settlement “Tridentum” in the 4th century BC. Trento has 108,000 inhabitants and is characterized by a medieval architecture.
Rovereto lies south of Trento in the valley of the river Adige. The city of around 34,000 inhabitants is not far from the Lake of Garda. Rovereto was visited by the famous German writer J. W. von Goethe on his way to Italy in 1786. In 2002 the Museum of Modern Art (MART) opened in Rovereto.
The city of Belluno is the capital of the province Belluno. People assume that the name comes from the Celtic “belo-donum”, which means light hill. In the 2nd century BC Belluno was a Roman imperial city. Its geographic position, linking north and south, has always given the city a strategic importance. In 1866 Belluno, which today has 36,000 residents, became part of the Italian Kingdom.
Feltre in the province of Belluno, home to about 20,000 people, was once part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The city which is set very close to the Dolomites boasts a few Renaissance buildings decorated with a special ancient technique.