The origins of this city on the river track to Bolzano and the low Alpine passes of Brenner and the Reschen Pass over the Alps are disputed. Some scholars maintain it was a Rhaetian settlement: the Adige area was however influenced by neighbouring populations, including the (Adriatic) Veneti, the Etruscans, the Cimbri, and the Gauls (a Celtic people). According to other theories, the latter did instead found the city during the fourth century BC.
Trento was conquered by the Romans in the late 1st century BC, after several clashes with the Rhaetian tribes. The Romans gave their settlement the name Tridentum (Tri Dentum, meaning 'Three Teeth') because of the three hills that surround the city: the Doss Trent, Sant'Agata and San Rocco. The Latin name is the source of the adjective Tridentine. On the old townhall a Latin inscription is still visible: Montes argentum mihi dant nomenque Tridentum ("Mountains give me silver and the name of Trento"), attributed to Fra' Bartolomeo da Trento (died in 1251). Tridentum became an important stop on the Roman road that led from Verona to Innsbruck.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the independent bishopric of Trento was ruled by Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Lombards and Franks, finally becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1027, Emperor Conrad II created the Prince-Bishops of Trento, who wielded both temporal and religious powers. In the following centuries, however, the sovereignty was divided between the Bishopric of Trent and the County of Tyrol (from 1363 part of the Habsburg monarchy). Around 1200, Trento became a mining center of some significance: silver was mined from the Monte Calisio - Khalisperg, and Prince-Bishop Federico Wanga issued the first mining code of the alpine region.
A dark episode in the history of Trento was the Trent blood libel. When a three year old Christian boy, Simonino, later known as Simon of Trent, disappeared in 1475 on the eve of Good Friday, the city's small
