ITALY WORLD GENWEB

Trentino-Alto Adige is the most northerly region in Italy.   This mountainous area borders with Switzerland to the north-west, with Austria to the north and with the Italian regions of Lombardy to the south-west and Venetia to the east and south-east.  It is comprised of two provinces - Trento and Bolzano.

Throughout recent history the area  has been known by several names; the German name of "Sud Tyrol",   Venetia-Tridentina , and   Trentino-Alto Adige.  It has been an autonomous region since 1948.  It is a rather sparsley populated area.  The region contains 1.5% of the population of Italy, in an area equal to 4.5% of the national territory.  The population density is second lowest in Italy.

The population of the region is derived from three different ethnic groups  hence three languages are spoken here.  The languages are Italian, German and Ladin.   The Province of Trento, almost entirely Italian-speaking, is characterized by the presence of dialects, some of Venetian origin and some Lombard (especially from Brescia).  In the Province of Bolzano  both German and Italian  are spoken.  The region has a small Rhaeto-Romanic Ladin speaking population; this dialect originates directly from Latin and is a characteristic of the ethnic group living in Val Gardena, Val Badia and part of Val Pusteria.
 

 

Province of Bolzano
GenWeb

Province of Trento
GenWeb

(Also see)
Austrian Tyrol
GenWeb

                  What Do You Know About Trentino-Alto Adige?  Take a quiz.!
                    (virtualitalia)

We Are Tyrolean! - An excellent article for those searching for their ancestral identies in the Tyrol.
By Loretta B. Perner, Ancestry Magazine, May/June 1994

Step back in time and read an 1835 article written by an English visitor to the Valley of Meran - In The Tyrol, Penny Magazine - July 18, 1835

What a Long Cold Winter It's Been
The story of Ötzi, better known as "the iceman."