Borgo Valsugana (Trentino Alto Adige)

Borgo Valsugana is a municipality in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 30 kilometers (19 mi) east of Trento. Borgo is in one of the tightest parts of Valsugana, mount Ciolino and mount Rocchetta, neither very high. It grew on the two sides of river Brenta and its ancient part is the only one in Trentino to occupy both sides of a river. Borgo Valsugana, whose ancient name was Ausugum, used to be a Roman settlement along the Claudia Augusta Altinate road which connected Altino to Tridentum (ancient name for Trento) and then to Augsburg, nowadays in Germany. Thanks to its location at the bottom of an open valley, the town always benefited from trade. Noblemen from Castelnuovo and Caldonazzo and the Welsperg family used to govern the town and its surroundings. In 1862 a huge fire destroyed a large part of the town, whose buildings were largely built using wood. From 1943 to 1945 the antifascist partisans fought in the framework of the "Gherlenda" battalion of the Garibaldine brigade "Antonio Gramsci" located in Feltre.