Trento : Italy
During the late 19th Century Trento and Trieste, Italian cities still belonging to the Austrians, became icons of the national unification movement. Benito Mussolini briefly joined the staff of a local newspaper in 1908. The nationalist cause led Italy into World War I. Fabio Filzi and Cesare Battisti were two well-known local irredentists who had joined the Italian army to fight against Austria-Hungary with the aim of bringing Trento and its territory into the newly founded Kingdom of Italy. The two men were taken prisoners during Austro-Italian fightings at the nearby southern front. Taken to Trento, they were put on trial for high treason and executed (Cesare Battisti was an Austrian citizen and even served in the Diet in Vienna). Their death caused an emotional stirr up and was later used by the Italian government to rhetorically celebrate the “liberation of Trento.” The region was greatly affected during the war, and some of its fiercest battles were fought on the surrounding mountains. After WW I Trento, and its Italian-speaking province, along with Bolzano and the part of Tyrol that stretched south of the Alpine watershed (which was German speaking) were annexed by Italy. That meant the annexation of almost 500,000 German speakers then were later to suffer under the nationalistic policies introduced by the fascist government.
World War II by and large spared the city, and starting from the 1950’s the region has enjoyed prosperous growth, thanks in part to its special autonomy from the central Italian government.
