Trento in a few hours? No problem! 🙂
If you are lucky enough to have a chance to spend a few hours in this quiet town full of hidden treasures, you will be able to see them all, but also to enjoy and admire its unique peace and beauty.
The city center is small, so you can finish your walking tour quite quickly, and then spend time enjoying its cafes, shops and parks nearby.
ITINERARY:
- La Piazza del Duomo
- La Fontana del Nettuno
- La Cattedrale di San Vigilio
- Il Palazzo Pretorio
- Il Museo Diocesano
- Le Case Cazuffi Rella
- Il Palazzo Municipale or Il Palazzo Thun
- La Casa Geremia
- La Chiesa di san Francesco Saverio
- Il Castello del Buonconsiglio
- La Torre Verde
- La Torre Vanga
- La Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore
- La Statua di Dante Alighieri
- Il Mausoleo di Cesare Battisti
We will start our route from La Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), in the heart of Trento, which is one of the main squares, and the city’s political, religious, and social center.
In the center of the square, there is the magnificent Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune), stunning and fairly massive, sculpted by Francesco Antonio Giongo in 1768.
La Cattedrale di San Vigilio or Il Duomo di Trento (The Cathedral of Saint Vigilius) is the main religious structure in the town constructed in the 11th century and then renovated several times over the years with many 14th century frescoes.
This is Romanesque-Baroque church, built over a pre-existing church from the 6th century devoted to Saint Vigilius, patron saint of the city. It was the seat of the Bishop of Trento until 1802. It has two staircases built into the walls and a large rose window with the Wheel of Fortune on the façade.
Around the square there are other amazing buildings to visit, like Il Palazzo Pretorio (The Praetorian Palace), which houses Il Museo Diocesano Tridentino (the Diocesan Museum), a fantastic museum dedicated to the religious history of Trento with a wonderful collection of paintings, wooden sculptures, tapestries and manuscripts from the 9th century to modern times.
The Prince-Bishop Federico Vanga erected it in 1220 and it used to be the seat of the Bishops of Trento, but also of the Municipality and the Courts. Its huge clock tower, La Torre Civica, was used in the past as a city jail.
Right next to it, there are Le Case Cazuffi Rella, two beautiful adjacent houses of the sixteenth century decorated with frescoes and with arches underneath. The façade on the left shows characters and scenes from classical mythology, and on the right illustrates the subjects of Virtue, Time and the Triumphs of Love.
Next to them, you will find Via Rodolfo Belenzani, where you will be able to keep admiring some of the best of Trento’s facades painted with historical, classical, and mythological motifs.
Near its north end, on the right, there is Il Palazzo Municipale or Il Palazzo Thun (The Town Hall) which was the property of the Thun family for four centuries since 1454 and their coat of arms stands on the façade and on the arch of the portal. On the opposite side of it, there is La Casa Geremia from the end of the 15th-century, a fabulous example of Renaissance architecture in the city, known particularly for the restored frescoes with historical-moral motifs on the façade.
In the very end of the street, hidden among these beautiful buildings, there is La Chiesa di San Francesco Saverio, pretty, little church erected between 1708 and 1711, and considered the greatest expression of Baroque religious architecture in the region of Trentino.
Turn right and Via Roma (further Via S.Marco) will take you straight to the Castelvecchio. Il Castello del Buonconsiglio (Buonconsiglio Castle) is the largest castle complex in this region, composed of a series of buildings of different eras. There is a huge round tower La Torre Aquila (The Eagle Tower), with the magnificent frescoes of the Cycle of the Months representing the landscape, the activities, the habits and the fashion of Medieval Trentino. There are also Il Magno Palazzo, an Italian Renaissance-style palace, and the Baroque Giunta Albertiana.
The castle was the residence of the prince-bishops of Trento from the 13th to the 18th century and nowadays it houses Il Museo Provinciale d’Arte (the Provincial Gallery of Art)
Going back towards the Adige River, follow Via Torre Verde, and you will soon find La Torre Verde (The Green Tower) in the middle of the road, surrounded by other buildings and easy to miss. It is very beautiful and particular tower with a green cusp and one of the symbols of the city. It was a strategic point of the city walls on the edge of the Adige, before the river was diverted in 1858.
In the end of the street, you will find another tower, La Torre Vanga, built in 1210 by Prince-Bishop Federico Vanga, on the banks of the Adige to guard a bridge over it. After the river was deviated at the foot of Monte Bondone it was used as a prison.
Before going right to Giardini publici to sit on the bench and enjoy the greenery, do not miss a beautiful church on the left, just a few hundred meters away. It is La Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore, beautiful and imposing Renaissance church with the marvelous portal and the triumphal bell tower.
Giardini publici is a well-kept garden with benches, a pond with ducks and the square in the middle, with the impressive and dominant sculpture of Dante Alighieri, 18 meters high, and certainly one of the most beautiful and impressive among the Italian monuments dedicated to the Supreme Poet.
From that point, you can clearly see the Mausoleo di Cesare Battisti (Cesare Battisti Mausoleum) on the opposite side of The Adige River. The most famous Trentino irredentist, journalist, geographer and patriot, Cesare Battisti, captured in the First World War by the Austrians and executed in front of the Castello del Buonconsiglio, rests in this imposing mausoleum overlooking the city of Trento, surrounded by a beautiful park and easily reached on foot. Rather than artistic, it has symbolic and commemorative value.
Trento is enchanting. Small and quiet, colorful and appealing, it offers the perfect combination of beauty, serenity and pleasure.