Trentino–Alto Adige is a region in northern Italy, right on the border with Austria and Switzerland. It has two main provinces:

Trentino, with the capital city Trento (Trent), where almost everyone speaks Italian.

Alto Adige, also called South Tyrol (German: Südtirol), with the capital city Bolzano (German: Bozen), where most people speak German as their first language.

Because of its history, the region is officially bilingual (in fact, trilingual, since Ladin, a local Romance language, is also recognized in some valleys).

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Many towns and cities in South Tyrol have both German and Italian names:

Bolzano / Bozen

Merano / Meran

Bressanone / Brixen

 

This is because South Tyrol was part of Austria-Hungary until 1919, when it became part of Italy after World War I. The local population was mostly German-speaking, but the Italian government wanted to strengthen Italian identity in the new territory.

During the Fascist period (1920s–1940s), Mussolini ordered the Italianization of South Tyrol. German was banned in schools and public life, and all German place names were replaced with Italian ones. These Italian versions were often invented or adapted by the Italian nationalist Ettore Tolomei.

Ostilità verso i dialetti, repressione delle minoranze linguistiche. [Bozen, Bolzano. Trento]

Hostility towards dialects, repression of minority languages.

Captions 4-5, Me Ne Frego Il Fascismo e la lingua italiana - Part 2

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Unless you go there or look at a map, you might only see or hear one version of the place name, the one in the language being spoken at the moment. Can it be confusing? Yes.

Qui, nell'Abbazia di Novacella a Varna in Val d'Isarco, a pochi chilometri da Bressanone, in tanti hanno sostato e trovato ricovero.

Here in the Abbey of Novacella in Varna in the Valley of Isarco, at only a few kilometers from Bressanone [Brixen], many have stopped and found refuge.

Captions 20-23, Itinerari Della Bellezza Trentino Alto Adige - Part 3

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Today, both languages are recognized. Street signs and official documents are in Italian and German. For example, you’ll see “Bolzano/Bozen” on road signs or maps.

💡 Did you know?

Besides Italian and German, a third language is spoken in some valleys of South Tyrol: Ladin.

In Italian, it’s called ladino.

In German, it’s called Ladinisch.

Ladin is not the same as the modern language Ladino (or Judeo-Spanish), which is spoken by Sephardic Jews. The two are unrelated.

Ladin is a very old Romance language, directly descended from Latin, and is still spoken in a few Alpine valleys (for example, the Val Gardena / Gröden and Val Badia / Gadertal). Because of this, South Tyrol is sometimes described as a trilingual province: Italian, German, and Ladin.

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