The Department of Economics and Management, as it is known today, is directed by Professor Flavio Bazzana. It was officially inaugurated on 29 October 2012 under the provisions set out by the new University of Trento Statute (Legislative Act 167, 23 April 2012) which integrated the two historical departments of Economics, and Informatics and Business Studies (DISA).
A Department of Economics was first set up in 1976. From its initial stages, lecturers in various academic disciplines - Sociology, Law, Engineering – were brought together to work alongside experts in General and Agricultural Economics, History of Economics and quantitative fields of study. It was headed by the following professors: Angelo Moioli (1984–1989), Massimo Egidi (1989-1995), Geremia Gios (1995-2001), Roberto Tamborini (2001–2007), Maria Luigia Segnana (2007-2010), and Stefano Zambelli (2010-2012).
The Department of Informatics and Business Studies (DISA) opened for the start of the 1989/90 academic year and incorporated most of the academic staff from the Institute of Informatics and Business Studies. This new department was created as a scientific research unit of likeminded collaborative experts to provide a support structure for the teaching of informatics and business studies throughout the University of Trento. It had striking interdisciplinary characteristics amplified by the inclusion of professors of statistics and applied research. It was first directed by Professor Guiseppe Volpato, a member of the Faculty Committee, and in the years that followed by professors Vittorio Mortara, Enrico Zaninotto, Alessandro Zorat, Mariangela Franch, Luca Erzegovesi, and Michele Andreaus.
History of the Building
(from the article written by Prof. A. Leonardi, A Building and its History: the Seat of the Faculty of Economics UNITN no.50)
The building, which today houses the Department of Economics and Management, was built at the end the 1880s as the headquarters for the Provincial Agricultural Council, a developmental body for the rationalization of the local agriculture, and the Silk Producers Institute.
By special decree from the Trento City Council, the building was constructed in the Briamasco area of the old town and inaugurated by the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph, on 2 July 1894. Following the economic and political upheaval after World War I, ownership of the building was transferred to the Provincial Economic Council in 1928 and then later to the Cooperative Economic Council. When the provincial councils for economics were suppressed in 1950, the building came under the ownership of the Province of Trento Chamber of Commerce for Industry and Agriculture. Following new legislature in force on 20 August 1960 and a redefinition of the then provincial economic bodies, the building was taken over by the Province of Trento Agricultural and Forestry Council.
In 1976 a further change occurred with the introduction of a new autonomous statute and the Provincial Agricultural Office became the occupant for the Department of Agricultural Development.
The property was eventually bought by the University of Trento on 12 December 1985. Initial renovation work started in 1988 and the first stage was completed in 1991. The final overhaul was finished in 1994 and the building then became the seat of the Faculty of Economics (originally founded in 1973).