Crossing Vallagarina, the old route between northern Europe and the Italian
plains, the eye is struck by the harmonious succession of castles and
rows of vines in a gently rolling landscape with mountains on either
side following the characteristic glacial conformation.
The line of defence along which the castle were built to control the
strategic compulsory passage is clearly defined. Castel Beseno, a veritable
fortified citadel, Castel Pietra just south of it, Castel Noarna and
lastly Sabbionara d'Avio. The bottom of the valley is covered with
endless rows of vines that produce white wines, spumantes and red wines
including the famous Marzemino mentioned by Mozart in his opera Don
Giovanni. The great Salzburg musician linked his name to Rovereto when
he performed his first public concert there at a very young age.
Homage is paid to Mozart every year with a cycle of concerts.
Suspended between this and a thousand other ancient memories, over the
centuries, the two town has consolidated its own personalised cultural
pole open to the south and counter to a more nordic Trento. In its
historic centre, Rovereto is paved with alleys, small squares and porticoes
that seem to be stolen from Venetian architecture, like the sober mansion
of the sink merchants and artisan (silk-worm raising used to be a flourishing
activity in the whole of the valley).
A museum, bearing the name of an illustrious Roveretan, Fortunato Depero
the leader of futurism, occupies the house where he lived.
Other celebrities, evidence of the cultural vitality of this town, were
the musician Riccardo Zandonai and the philosopher Antonio Rosmini.
Among the other features are the great Bell of the Fallen and the War
Museum housed in Rovereto Castle. Recently a new attraction of current
scientific interest, or more curiosity, has been created by the Jurassic Park
effect. Some tracks with prints left by dinosaurs millions of years ago
have found on the slopes of Mount Zugna, a few kilometres south of Rovereto.