Rovereto
Rovereto is Trentino's second city, resting in the Vallagarina valley along the course of the Adige river, among the hills marking...
Updated 17 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
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The story
The story of Rovereto
The city of peace and culture in the Vallagarina
Rovereto stands in the Vallagarina, the valley carved by the Adige between the Prealps and the Baldo and Vigolana massifs, a historic crossing point between the Germanic and Italian worlds. This position made the city a crossroads of trade, languages and cultures as early as the Middle Ages, when it was disputed between Venice and the Prince-Bishopric of Trento. Today Rovereto is known above all as the "city of peace", an identity rooted in the wounds of the Great War, fought just a few kilometres away on the surrounding mountains, which has since grown into a lasting cultural commitment to memory and dialogue. Alongside this vocation, in recent decades the city has built a museum and artistic offering of international standing, able to attract visitors from across Europe without losing the compact, orderly character of its historic centre, made up of stately palaces, elegant squares and arcades along the main streets.
The MART and twentieth-century art
The MART, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, has its main seat in Rovereto in a building designed by the Ticino-born architect Mario Botta, recognisable for the large glass and steel dome that illuminates the great internal square. The museum holds one of the most significant collections of twentieth-century Italian art, with an exceptionally important core dedicated to Fortunato Depero, a Rovereto-born artist among the foremost figures of Futurism, who is also honoured with the Casa d'Arte Futurista bearing his name in the city centre. Alongside Depero, the MART's collections span the century's main movements, from Futurism to international avant-gardes and on to contemporary art, with temporary exhibitions running throughout the year. The museum is today one of Italy's benchmarks for modern art, able to hold its own alongside major European museums while remaining deeply tied to the history and identity of the city that hosts it.
The Maria Dolens Bell of the Fallen
On the hill of Miravalle, overlooking Rovereto, stands the Bell of the Fallen, also known as Maria Dolens, one of the largest bells in the world cast for this symbolic purpose. Made by melting down bronze from cannons donated by the countries that took part in the First World War, the bell was conceived as a monument dedicated to the fallen of every nation and every war, without distinction of side, a gesture that has made Rovereto an international point of reference for peace. Every evening, at sunset, one hundred tolls ring out over the city and the valley, a ritual repeated for decades that continues to draw visitors and school groups to the hill. From the panoramic terrace surrounding the bell, the view takes in the whole Vallagarina, offering both a moment of reflection and one of the most striking views over the city and the mountains that encircle it.
The Castle and the War Museum
Rovereto Castle, of medieval origin and enlarged several times during the Venetian period, stands on a rocky spur overlooking the historic centre and marks the city's profile from every corner of town. Within its walls is the Italian History of War Museum, one of Italy's most important military museums, gathering documents, weapons, uniforms and testimonies linked above all to the First World War, fought intensely on these mountains along the front line dividing Italy from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The museum's rooms recount trench life, the battles on Ortigara and Pasubio, and more broadly the experience of war as lived by the local population, often forced to leave their homes as refugees. The visit is rounded off with a privileged view over the city from the castle's walkways, which help convey the strategic role this fortress played over the centuries along the Vallagarina.
Mozart, silk and the surrounding area
Rovereto holds surprising ties to major European history: in 1769 the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then thirteen years old, stopped here during a journey through Italy and had the chance to perform in the city, an episode still recalled with pride by the local community. Another important chapter of its economic history is linked to silk production: between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Vallagarina was one of Trentino's most active silk-making centres, with spinning mills and mulberry trees that shaped the area's agricultural landscape and economy for generations. Just outside the city, at Lavini di Marco, the limestone rock preserves numerous fossilised dinosaur footprints dating back around two hundred million years, among Italy's most significant traces of these ancient inhabitants of the land. Between musical memory, textile tradition and palaeontology, the area around Rovereto offers unexpected glimpses to those who venture beyond the historic centre.
Not to be missed
- The MART and the Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero, among the greatest masterpieces of twentieth-century Italian art
- The Maria Dolens Bell of the Fallen on the hill of Miravalle, with its evening toll and view over the Vallagarina
- Rovereto Castle and the Italian History of War Museum
- The historic centre, with its stately palaces, arcades and sites linked to Mozart's visit
- The Lavini di Marco, with fossilised dinosaur footprints just minutes from the city
To see
What to see in Rovereto
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