Alpine Studies Center – CSALP

For any information regarding the use of the facilities of the Centro Studi Alpino, please contact:

Local contact

Dr. Ilaria Nervo

E-mail servizicsalp@unitus.it

Director of the CSALP

Prof. Riccardo Massantini

DIBAF Department, University of Tuscia

Via S. Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c.

01100 Viterbo

tel 0761 357496

E-mail: massanti@unitus.it

The location of the CSALP:

Via Rovigo, 7

38050 Pieve Tesino TN

Tel. 0461 594626

fax. 0461 592766

46°04′ 10″N 11°36’28″E

HOW TO GET THERE

Pieve Tesino is located 52 km from Trento and 107 km from Padua. It can be reached:

by car:

via Trento (A22), continuing along the SS 47 in the direction of Padua to Strigno, then continuing along the SP 78 to Pieve Tesino

Via Padova (A4, A13), continuing along the SS 47 in the direction of Trento to Strigno, then continuing along the SP 78 to Pieve Tesino

by train:

via Trento (Brenner line), continuing along the Trento-Padova line to the stations of Borgo Valsugana or Strigno, then by bus to Pieve Tesino (timetable of the Trentino Trasporti line)

via Padova (Rome-Venice and Milan-Trieste lines), continuing along the Padova-Trento line to the stations of Strigno and Borgo Valsugana, then by bus to Pieve Tesino (timetable of the Trentino Trasporti line)

by air:

from Venice Marco Polo airport, continuing by train via Padova

from Verona’s Catullo airport by train via Trento

In 1999 the Rector, Prof. Giantommaso Scarascia Mugnozza, and the President of the Lower Valsugana and Tesino District (today the Valley Community), Giovanni Battista Lenzi, signed an agreement on the basis of which the University has loaned for use the building of the ancient Elementary Schools of Pieve Tesino, completely renovated thanks to funding from the Autonomous Province of Trento. This is how the headquarters of the Centre was created.

The availability of an equipped building significantly expands the use of the CSALP, which in 2002 became the Service Centre of the University of Tuscia, a powerful resource available to all disciplinary sectors into which the University’s research and teaching is divided.

In its current configuration, the CSALP has for several years hosted events proposed and organised by national and international cultural, scientific and educational institutions on various themes, with particular reference to those of greatest interest for the Alpine context.

The realization of the Center was possible thanks to the support of the Administration of Pieve Tesino, which in the person of several mayors who have followed the leadership of the City, Lanfranco Fietta, Licio Gioseffi, Valterio Nervo, Silvino Roman, Livio Gecele e Carola Gioseffi have seen with favour the presence of the University of Tuscia.

The town of Pieve Tesino and the Alpine Study Center

Edited by Maria and Mariano Avanzo

The country

We are located in the Tesino area, between 800 and 900 meters of altitude on the left hydrographic side of Valsugana, eastern Trentino. The village enjoys a central position in the plateau compared to the other two municipalities: Castello and Cinte Tesino.  The small village of Pieve owes its beauty to the variety of environments that surround it, from the green meadows and extensive forests to the rugged mountains. Moreover, it preserves an intact historical center and numerous fountains can be admired walking along its streets.

Winter and summer tourist destination, Pieve Tesino is famous throughout Europe for being the birthplace of statesman Alcide De Gasperi. Remarkable is the beauty and the majesty of one of the most remarkable gothic churches of Trentino: the church of Assunta that dominates the town from the top of its grandeur and sacredness (we have news of it since the 12th century). A few steps away from this precious treasure, another one rises: the little church of S. Sebastiano (15th century) that stands on a hill that offers to those who visit it a magnificent view over the whole valley.  In the upper part of the village stands the Alpine Study Center, a massive building with a square plan and 4 floors.  In 1991 the building became the headquarters of the Alpine Study Center, but it has a long history that starts in the ’50s of the 1800s. It is an imposing building, elegantly enclosed between two wide and long staircases, the west one in granite, the east  one in concrete. It is located in via Luciano Gioseffi (ex Rovigo), halfway along the road that leads from the Casa De Gasperi Museum to the archpriestal church of the Assunta and to the hill of San Sebastiano. Its main façade looks south towards the village and, in the distance, towards the southeast, you can glimpse the other two municipalities of the Tesino plateau.

The building that host the Alpine Study Center

Born as Casa Comunale, initially with two floors, on September 8, 1850 the city council planned to raise the building to enlarge it. The proposal was put on the agenda again on February 8 of the following year because in the Municipal House were to find place also the schools, the house for the doctor and also a room for the gendarmerie.

In 1852 it was decided to purchase a vegetable garden under the Town Hall, which in 1873 would be transformed into a nursery for the sowing of plants whose type is not specified in the documents.

In 1867 an entrance door was installed that, it was said, “seems to some too low and out of proportion”. The City Manager asked the members of the city council “whether it should be remodeled, or left as it is. It was decided in the last case.” Evidently the administrators were thinking, in those days, more about savings than aesthetics!

Nine years later, in 1876, the gendarmerie was also granted a “vòlto” (cellar) on the ground floor “for the arrest of prisoners”. The home of the doctor will then be moved to the building in front, beyond the concrete staircase, which already housed the warehouse of firemen and the dairy. For the latter, it will be decided to build a new structure along the same street, but further down.

A document was found in which the City Council resolved to purchase a bell to regulate the entrance and exit of schoolchildren.

The present headquarters of the Alpine Study center will carry out its function of municipal building “everything to do” until the 50s of the ‘900, when the offices of the Municipality will be transferred in the Villa Sgarietta, in Giovanni Buffa Schievano square.

The elementary schools, which occupied the second floor, will have a separate entrance on the north side, at the top of the granite staircase. Four large classrooms plus one located on the lower floor will host the schoolchildren until the ’60s when it will be decided to finish the new school building, now named after Alcide Degasperi, which stands in front of the municipal building in Via Brigata Abruzzi.

The floor then, freed from elementary school students in 1963, for a few years will be animated by the presence of middle school students. It will then become the seat of the Public Library in 1974 and will remain so for about a decade.

At the beginning of the 90s, the building, inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Andreotti, takes a new life, always linked to the world of study, culture, school. Completely renovated, it will have classrooms and spaces for the reception of university students and on the top floor will be set up a large conference room. The management of the Study Alpine Center by the University of Tuscia in Viterbo dates back to those years. We have therefore arrived at today’s days.

The Alpine Study Center is administered by the Director and the Center’s Council consisting of representatives of the Departments of the University of Tuscia, according to a set of regulations issued by Rectoral Decree No. 239/21del01.04.2021.

For the period 2020-2022, by R.D. No. 326/2021 dated May 28, 2021, the Scientific Director of the Center

• Prof. Riccardo MASSANTINI   
  Dip.to per l’Innovazione nei sistemi biologici, agroalimentari e forestali _DIBAF
  Via S. Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c.,
  01100 Viterbo
  massanti@unitus.it

For the period 2020-2024 co DR No. 290 dated 03.05.2021, the Councilors representing the respective Departments are:

• Prof. Fabio Recanatesi
  Dip.to di Scienze e tecnologie per l’agricoltura, le foreste, la natura e l’energia _ DAFNE
  Via S. Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c.
  01100 Viterbo
  fabio.rec@unitus.it
• Prof.ssa Laura Selbmann
  Dip.to di Scienze Ecologiche e Biologiche _ DEB
  Largo dell’Università s.n.c.
  01100 Viterbo
  selbmann@unitus.it
• Prof.ssa Luisa Carbone
  Dip.to di Scienze umanistiche, della comunicazione e del turismo _ DISUCOM
  Via S. Maria in Gradi, 4
  01100 Viterbo
  luisa.carbone@unitus.it
• Prof.ssa Maria Gabriella Dionisi
  Dip.to di Studi Linguistico-letterari, storico-filosofici e giuridici _ DISTU
  Via San Carlo, 32 01100 Viterbo
  dionisi@unitus.it
• Prof. ssa Barbara Pancino
  Dip.to di Economia Ingegneria, Società e Impresa _ DEIM
  Via del Paradiso 47 01100 Viterbo
  bpancino@unitus.it

The Tesino Arboretum has been realized thanks to the collaboration between the Environmental Rehabilitation and Valorization Service – Department of the Environment of the Autonomous Province of Trento, the University of Tuscia and the municipalities of Pieve Tesino and Cinte Tesino; it has been open to visitors since 2002.

The Arboretum is located in Campagnola area in the valley of the Rio Solcena, on the north-eastern slopes of Colle Danè, in the territory of the municipalities of Pieve Tesino and Cinte Tesino.

It is located at an altitude of  800 – 845 m asl. and consists of a large grassland area with groups of scattered trees, strips of woodland, a marshy area, which is surveyed as a biotype district (No. 12 Pieve Tesino – Campagna) and a pond, all delimited by a country hedge.

In particular, within the area the following sections can be recognized: mixed wood of conifers and broad-leaved trees, wood of alders, swamp and adjoining the islet, Rio Solcena and adjoining grove, pond and adjoining stream, European species sector, Asian species sector, American species sector, country hedge, orchard.

In August 2011, the arboretum was used to inaugurate the Garden of Europe dedicated to Alcide De Gasperi, a distinguished Italian statesman, born in Pieve Tesino, considered one of the founding fathers of the European Union. The garden was designed by the Centre for the Botanical Garden of the University of Tuscia by Prof. Anna Scoppola and architect Sofia Varoli Piazza.

In the summers of 2011 and 2012 the arboretum was the venue for two outdoor concerts organized as part of the “Sounds of the Dolomites” event.

Students of the University of Tuscia, can carry out their practical-applicative internship at the arboretum, with the support of the resources available at the Study Center and the supervision of a tutor. The activities include the care and maintenance of the plants, the service at the visitor centre and the organisation of guided tours.

For further information please contact Prof. Riccardo Massantini.

THE TERRITORY

The natural environment

The Tesino territory extends for more than 200 km² between the Lagorai chain and Valsugana. The peaks of the Lagorai close it to the north, separating it from the Val di Fiemme, while the Vanoi Valley divides it eastwards from the group of the Pale di S. Martino and the Primiero. Also to the east, the narrow hydrographic incisions of the Senaiga stream and the Val Porra mark the boundary with the Feltrino for long stretches. To the west, the physiographic boundary can be found in the Val Campelle and, further south, in the wake of the Chieppena stream.

South of the ridges of the Lagorai, and the Vanoi valley furrow, stands the imposing massif of Cima d’Asta, which at 2,850 m represents the highest point of the Tesino. From its southern buttresses comes the Grigno stream, which crosses a large part of the territory from north to south.

The Tesino is situated in an intermediate position between the Asiago plateau and the Venetian Pre-Alps, and the internal Alps. Along the valleys created by the tributary watercourses of the Brenta, with a prevalent north-south orientation, the currents of humid air coming from the Adriatic can still go up and guarantee abundant rainfall all year round, as well as a certain mitigation of the thermal extremes. From a phytoclimatic point of view, therefore, the Tesino is largely part of the so-called mesalpic forest region.

The variation in altitude, exposure and slope of peaks, slopes and valley floors creates a marked diversification of microclimatic conditions that is reflected in the local characteristics of forest vegetation. Soils are also part of the mosaic of environmental conditions. On the whole, they have a good fertility, able to guarantee the development of evolved forest cenosis.

Woods and pastures are the dominant element of the Tesino landscape. The forest area is 13,759 hectares and represents more than 50% of the territorial area. The majority (6,999 ha) falls within the municipality of Castello, followed by those of Pieve (3,893 ha), Cinte (2,265 ha) and Bieno (602 ha). It is important to point out that it is directly the municipalities that manage, as the owners, most of this natural heritage which, together with the mountain pastures, has represented in past centuries the greatest guarantee of survival for the local populations.

The forests of Tesino are mainly composed of three typical alpine conifers: spruce (Picea abies), fir (Abies alba) and larch (Larix decidua). In the coniferous forests there is also a court of other broad-leaved trees such as the maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), the maple (Acer platanoides), the sorb of the birds (Sorbus aucuparia), the salicone (Salix caprea), the birch (Betula pendula) and the green alder. The practice of civic use of wood has very limited the spread and size of these species. In Tesino there are also areas covered with deciduous woods that dominate the territory below 1100 meters. They are still mainly coppiced, but the area of the stands that are being converted to high forests is constantly increasing. The most common species at higher altitudes and on the best soils is beech, which in the past was an imposing stand of tall trees, the reconstitution of which is one of the objectives of forest management. Beech is associated with species with a more thermophilic temperament such as hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia), poplar tremolo (Populus tremula), ash (Fraxinus ornus), downy oak (Quercus pubescens), hazel (Corylus avellana) and others.

More details on the characteristics of the territory and the mouths of the Tesino can be found in the book “I boschi del Tesino: cultura della natura”.

Depliant Arboreto

The Study Centre uses energy from 100 per cent renewable sources, employs low-energy light bulbs and has always purchased paper and stationery exclusively from sustainable forest management. Finally, the cleaning materials used meet the ecological quality criteria according to European Community guidelines.

Starting from 1 July 2019 it is not longer possible to use disposable plastic at the Centre. The Centre has in fact joined the “Plastic Free” campaign launched by the Ministry of the Environment. In this same website you will find simple rules to follow that will help to change the state of health of the Earth. Thank you for your collaboration.

LINK