What to do and see in Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige: The Best Art Museums

The Buonconsiglio Castle is the largest and most important monumental complex of the Trentino Alto Adige region. It was the residence of the prince-bishops of Trento from the 13th century to the end of the 18th century, and is composed of a series of buildings of different eras, enclosed by walls and positioned slightly higher than the city. Castelvecchio is the oldest nucleus, dominated by an imposing cylindrical tower; the Magno Palazzo is the 16th century expansion in the Italian Renaissance-style as commissioned by the Prince-Bishop and Cardinal Bernardo Cles (1485-1539); the Baroque-style Giunta Albertiana dates from the end of the 17th century. At the extreme south of the complex is the Torre Aquila, within which is conserved the famous Cycle of the Months, one of the most fascinating secular pictorial cycles of the late Middle Ages.

The Tridentine Diocesan Museum is located right downtown in Trento, close to the San Vigilio Cathedral, in the Palazzo Pretorio, which was in the Upper Middle Ages residence to the Prince-Bishops of Trento. Established in 1903 to house Diocese's artistic heritage, the Museum also hosts the early Christian basilica of San Vigilio, as well as the archeological artefacts dug out from the Cathedral ground between 1964 and 1977. The museum's permanent exhibition features a collection ranging form the thirteenth to the nineteenth century of paintings, wooden scupltures, tapestries and manuscripts, as well as a selection of vestments and the treasure of the Cathedral. All the collections are arranged in chronologial order, by author or by cultural ambit.