FROM THE FRUIT OF EVE TO THAT OF BACCHUS: TWO IRRESISTIBLE TEMPTATIONS

A huge web of light and space stands out against the sky. It is the dome of the new Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rovereto. An emblem of the city, nicknamed “the Athens of Trentino”, and a symbol of the culture of the region from the enchanted mountains, mother of endless wealth, and the narrow valley floors, father of a reserved and suspicious partiality against the other nation.

The exaggerated conflict with the central institutions was resolved in 1971 with the adoption of an autonomous statute that has carved the bifrontal face of the region in the two faces of Trento and Bolzano. However, the parting of the political and administrative addresses of the two provinces with difficulty controllable by the Ladin minorities and, on the cultural level, with the local traditions used as an instrument are the indication of the difficult path towards a development still not concluded. Recurring to a wide political autonomy, an expression of an antique practise of relations between populations and the authorities that rises from a Hapsburgic management of power have diluted the dramatic events, linked to the ethnic-linguistic differences of the Italian-German community.

Notwithstanding the birth of Irst, the scientific arm of the Trento Institute of Cultures, which anticipates in its research all the possible scenarios of artificial intelligence – from studies on antimatter to telemedicine, from the innovative applications of silicon to software engineering – in the regional subconscious a culture to a certain extent still strongly rural has settled.

Also due to this ambiguous character Trentino has a profound magnetism that makes it a pole of attraction for tourists and a reason for pride for its inhabitants. And the inhabitants of Trento are proud to proclaim themselves peasants: “in our region the peasant is still a respectable person”, they say indicating with pride the fields skilfully prepared for the most remunerative specific cultivations, such as the cultivation of mulberries, tobacco, fruit and zoo technology, thanks to which optimal Pdo chesses are produced (Grana Padano, Asiago and Provolone Valpadana) and a delicious Speck (Pgi).

The fruit par excellence in Trentino is instead the apple, but this is a supremacy now threatened by the grape. Here the fruit of Eve is an irresistible temptation as much as that of Bacchus, which has the flavour of the vineyards of German denomination. Besides white and sparkling Doc wines of high quality we can also find Igt quality wines, of sometimes unpronounceable names, such as “Mitterberg tra Cauria e Tel”, but pleasing to the taste, which is, for gourmets, the most efficient of interpreters.