Buonconsiglio Castle (Italy)

Buonconsiglio Castle is the most important castle in Trentino, seat of the Bishops Princes and symbol of the city of Trento. Today the castle is also a museum and every year hosts very successful exhibitions.

The Castello del Buonconsiglio, together with the Cathedral of San Vigilio, is one of the symbols of Trento. Reachable on foot from Piazza Duomo with a walk of about ten minutes, it is one of the most visited places in the city.

Until the eighteenth century it was the residence of the Prince Bishops, lords of the city and now houses the Provincial Museum of Art, monuments and provincial collections and every year offers a large summer exhibition and other exhibitions, enriched by educational activities, workshops, proposals for schools.

THE CASTLE

The structure of the castle is made up of elements from different eras: the most ancient nucleus, "Castelvecchio", dates back to the 12th century. Other elements, like Torre Aquila, were erected in the fourteenth century. The tower, which stands in the east of the city walls, is one of the most visited places of the castle because its walls are home to the wonderful frescoes of the Ciclo dei Mesi. A masterpiece of Gothic art, the work is a precious testimony of the courtly and peasant life of the late fourteenth century.

In the Renaissance the castle was further enlarged, thanks to the bishop Bernando Cles, who had the Magno Palazzo built, a representative seat of the political and cultural power of the bishop-princes. Cles entrusted to the painter Girolamo Romanino the frescoes that decorate the loggia, and to the artist Dosso Dossi the decorative interventions of the internal rooms.

Finally, from the Baroque period is the Giunta Albertiana, decorated with stuccos and frescoes by Giuseppe Alberti.

In addition to art, the castle is also famous for having witnessed a tragic episode of the First World War: it is within these walls that the trial took place to the irredentists Cesare Battisti, Fabio Filzi and Damiano Chiesa, who were executed in the courtyard of the building.