Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region under the constitution. The province is composed of 166 comuni (municipalities). Its capital is the city of Trento (Trent). The province covers an area of more than , with a total population of 541,098 in 2019. Trentino is renowned for its mountains, such as the Dolomites, which are part of the Alps. Etymology The province is generally known as "Trentino". The name derives from Trento, the capital city of the province. Originally, the term was used by the local population only to refer to the city and its immediate surroundings. Under former Austrian rule, which began in the 19th century (previously, Trentino was governed by the local bishop), the common German name for the region was Welschtirol () or Welschsüdtirol (‘Italian South Tyrol’), or just Südtirol, meaning South Tyrol with reference to its geographic position as the southern part of Tyrol. The corresponding Italian name was Tirolo Meridionale, which was historically used to describe the wider southern part of the County of Tyrol, specifically Trentino and sometimes also today's South Tyrol, or Tirolo Italiano. In its wider sense, Trentino was first used around 1848 in an article by a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly; it became a popular term among leftist intellectual circles in Austria. Since the new 1972 autonomous status, the administrative name of the province is Autonomous Province of Trento (, ). History The history of Trentino begins in the mid-Stone Age. The valleys of what is now Trentino were already inhabited by man, the main settlements being in the valley of the Adige River, thanks to its milder climate. In the early Middle Ages, this area was included within the Kingdom of Italy and the March of Verona. In 1027, the Bishopric of Trent was established as a State of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Conrad II. It was an ecclesiastical territory, roughly corresponding to the present-day Trentino, governed by the Prince-Bishops of Trento. The Council of Trent, held in three major sessions from 1545 to 1563, with the first at Trento, was one of the important councils in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. It was an articulation of Roman Catholic doctrine in response to the Protestant Reformation, and specified