Monte Calisio (also called Argentario from Argento, meaning silver in Italian), at , is a mountain located in the North of Italy and surrounded by the suburbs of

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin language, Ladin and ; ; ; ; ; ), also known in English as Trent, is a city on the Adige, Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the Trentino, autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th ...

and

Civezzano Civezzano (''Zivezan'' in local dialect) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about northeast of Trento. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,484 and an area ...

Martignano Martignano ( Griko: , translit. ) is a small town and ''comune'' of 69 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. It is part of Salento and is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina, an area where the Greek dialect Griko is spoke ...

, Cognola, Villamontagna, Gardolo and Melta di Gardolo.

History

Prehistory

The first evidence of human presence in the whole region of

Tirol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

was found here at the western slopes of Monte Calisio where, in 1971, the so called "Venere del Gàban", i.e. a statuette made from deer horn and portraying a woman, was found.La Venere del Gabàn

Roman Period

In 15 BC Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus built the so called

via Claudia Augusta The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the valley of the Po River with Rhaetia (encompassing parts of modern Eastern Switzerland, Northern Italy, Western Austria, Southern Germany and all of Liechtenstein) across the Alp ...

, a road which connected to Augsburg. This road passed along the places where now we can find the suburbs of Meano, Martignano and Cognola and sometimes it coincided with still existing trails.

Argentario mines

In the past on the slopes of Monte Calisio there were many important silver mines (hence the name "Argentario", which nowadays is commonly used to mean the district of Martignano and Cognola). These mines provided silver to

in particular by means of the mint of

Merano Merano (, ; ) or Meran () is a (municipality) in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. Generally best known for its Spa town, spa resorts, it is located within a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to Height above mean sea ...

. This is the reason for which the most ancient mining code in Europe was written in 1207 at

by Prince-Bishop Federico Vanga (or Wanga). These mines lost their importance during the fifteenth century when a new very important mine in

Schwaz Schwaz () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Schwaz district. Schwaz is located in the lower Inn valley. Location Schwaz lies in the middle of the Lower Inn Valley at the foot of the Kellerjoch ...

was discovered near

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

. Many of these old mines, locally called canope, are still visible in the woods of Monte Calisio and some of them can still be accessed (see for example the Busa del Pomar).

Contemporary history

In previous centuries the slopes of Monte Calisio were relatively sparsely populated. However, in the last century more and more people decided to live there causing the above mentioned suburbs to grow at high rate. Below the mountain top, at {{convert, 2,719, ft, m, 0, the ruins of Forte Casara can be found. This was a fort, built just before World War I by Austro-Hungarian Empire and abandoned during 1915.

References

One-thousanders of Italy