Underground Trento is a quarter of the Roman city that lay buried for centuries and can now be visited a few metres below street level. Under Piazza Cesare Battisti, the Spazio Archeologico Sotterraneo del Sas, known to everyone as the SASS, holds 1,700 square metres of Tridentum: streets, walls, houses and workshops brought to light during the restoration of the Teatro Sociale. If you are staying on the upper lake, it is the half-day trip that pairs history with shelter, a short way up the Adige valley from Riva and Torbole.
What you see below the square
You go down only a few metres and the noise of the city fades. In front of you runs a stretch of paved road, laid with large slabs of local red stone, the same stone you notice in many buildings in the old centre. Below the surface open the channels of an elaborate drainage and sewer network, the mark of a city that knew how to manage water. A little further on, a long section of the eastern walls preserves a tower that was turned into a city gate in the imperial period, the point where you entered Tridentum from the east.
From the streets you move into the houses. There are domestic rooms with mosaic floors, spaces warmed by underfloor heating, a courtyard, a well that has survived intact, and the workshop of a glassmaker, where glass was worked when Trento was a crossroads between the plains and the Alpine passes. That is the detail that gives the place its measure: not a single monument, but the daily life of a whole neighbourhood.
The city that stood here: from Tridentum to the Sas quarter
Tridentum was founded as a Roman town around two thousand years ago and remained inhabited, changing over time, from the first century BC to the sixth century AD, before it was absorbed into medieval and then modern Trento. The name of the site keeps the memory of a much later quarter, the Sas, partly demolished in the 1930s to open up today’s Piazza Cesare Battisti. The excavations that returned the Roman quarter to view took place during the restoration and enlargement of the Teatro Sociale, between 1990 and 2000: beneath a building site of the late twentieth century, a piece of a city twenty centuries older came back to light.
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Beyond the SASS: Roman Trento, above and below
The SASS is the way in, but Roman Trento continues elsewhere. Under the Torre Civica, on Piazza Duomo, you can see the Porta Veronensis, the gate that faced Verona, reached from the entrance hall of the Museo Diocesano. On Piazza Lodron a second excavation shows a southern sector of the city, with a length of wall, a tower and the remains of private buildings. Your SASS ticket also covers the Villa romana di Orfeo (the Roman Villa of Orpheus) on Via Rosmini, with its mosaic floors. Along the route, the film “Dentro Trento” (Inside Trento) and the virtual-reality stations rebuild the appearance of the ancient city and help you read what remains, which is useful above all if you are visiting with children.
When to come up to Trento
The upper lake and Trento share the same Adige valley, so the city is the natural detour when you want a cultural counterpoint to a life spent outdoors, or when rain puts a stop to the cycling and the sailing. The SASS is indoors, takes about an hour to see and works well with children, so it slips easily into a holiday built around the water. And if you are arriving from the north, down the Adige corridor, you reach Trento before you even drop towards Riva and Torbole: a stop that opens the journey rather than breaking it.
Practical information
The SASS is on Piazza Cesare Battisti and opens through the week, with the usual Monday closure except on public holidays. The ticket also covers the Villa romana di Orfeo on Via Rosmini, and the site takes part in the Trentino Guest Card and Museum Pass schemes. Entry is free for young children, with reduced rates for young people, over-65s and groups. The step-free entrance is at the rear of the Teatro Sociale, with a lift available on request, and it is worth giving notice ahead of a visit for anyone with reduced mobility. Seasonal opening hours, current prices and booking details are in the panel below.
Questions and answers
What is the SASS in Trento?
The Spazio Archeologico Sotterraneo del Sas: 1,700 square metres of the Roman city of Tridentum, under Piazza Cesare Battisti, uncovered during the restoration of the Teatro Sociale.
What can you see in underground Trento?
A stretch of paved street, the sewer network, the eastern walls with a tower-gate, house interiors with mosaics and underfloor heating, a well and a glassmaker’s workshop.
How long does the visit take?
About an hour for the main route; the film and the virtual reality can extend it as long as you like.
Is it suitable for children?
Yes. The route is indoors, short and supported by multimedia reconstructions that make the remains easy to read.
Check times and ticket prices here
