A new exhibition in this northern Italian city enables visitors to discover the secrets of revolutionary car designs of the past and take a peek at the motoring of the future.
The show, entitled Mitomacchina (legendary cars), runs at the Rovereto and Trento Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MART) from December 2 until May 1.
It features a splendid array of classic cars dating back to one of the first petrol-powered automobiles - an 1886 model made by German inventor Karl Benz - which trace the whole history of motor design.
Some of these historic vehicles have never been on public show before.
Organizers say the aim is to appeal to enthusiasts and the general public, by focusing both on the cars' technical lowdown and on the role these revolutionary models have played in society.
So pride of place will go to cars which took motoring to the masses like the Model T Ford, the Fiat 500 and Britain's Austin Mini.
Visitors will learn about the innovations Henry Ford introduced with the Model T, including assembly-line mass production, which made it possible to bring car prices down to affordable levels for the working man.
They can also see how Mini-designer Sir Alec Issigonis created the template for the modern small car.
Changes like the use of a transversely-mounted engine - with the crankshaft set side-to-side rather than front-to-back - enabled Issigonis to produce a compact, front-wheel drive car that, as well as being cheap to buy, was economical to run too.
Another star of the show is the Volkswagen Beetle. Developed in 1934 by Ferdinand Porsche, the Beetle was the only car with a pre-war design to last deep into the modern era.
In 1972 Beetle production passed the 15-million mark, making it the best-selling car of all time.
Naturally, the exhibition finds plenty of space for great Italian sport cars, like the Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, the elegant Bugattis of the 1920s and 30s and the designers who made them.
These include Giorgetto Giugiaro, the man responsible for the design of supercars like the Maserati Bora as well as many popular everyday models. He initiated the 'folded paper' trend of the 1970s in which cars were designed with straight lines and sharp edges.
Another great designer to be profiled is Giovanni Battista Pininfarina.
He was the founder of the Carrozzeria Pininfarina company, which over the years has created the bodies for classic models such as the Ferrari F40 - one of the highest performing street vehicles ever produced - the Alfa Romeo Spider and the Rolls-Royce Camargue.
The exhibition looks at the Italian people's legendary passion for motoring too, including their long-standing, deep attachment to the Ferraro Formula One race team.
To top things off, a series of prototypes will give visitors some clues about the shape of cars to come in the 21st century.
The museum's website, www.mart.trento.it, has an English-language section.
