Day 12 - Trento

A rest day for us. We don't even mind the rain today, for we can go out whenever the deluge lightens.

Trento is a very beautiful city. When the Romans conquered this region, they founded a city here in honor of the sea god Neptune. They named their city Tridentium, the Latin root from which, in later centuries, the name Trento evolved.

Duomo, Trento

Once again we were balancing the desire to catch a little rest with the urge to see everything we could. We chose to hit two of the principal sites in the city, the Duomo (Cathedral) and Il Castello del Buonconsiglio (also known as the Palace of the Prince-Bishops of Trent).

Our first stop was the Duomo. I was surprised by how small it was, compared to similar cathedrals in Italy. It is disproportionate to its importance, for it was here that the Catholic cardinals and bishops met to weigh the claims advanced by the Protestant reformers. This theological gathering, the Council of Trent, ran from 1545-1563. After vigorous debate, the Catholic representatives judged that the Protestant reformers had no valid support for their claims. In fact, the church’s beliefs were correct, and the Protestants were simply wrong. The schism between the two wings of the church, opened by Martin Luther, was reinforced and remains in effect to this day.

Duomo Interior

Here in this dark, rough-hewn stone church, Catholic clergy met and wrestled with decisions that continue to resonate today. In view of the theological importance of this event, I was a little disappointed that there weren’t some placards to educate visitors. You might never have known that such a weighty affair had happened in this building.

The Duomo did a little better job explaining its Roman heritage. The Duomo was built on top of an ancient Christian basilica, that had allegedly been established by Saint Vigilius. According to the story, three Cappadocian missionaries had been sent to this region to spread the Gospel among the pagan Germanic tribes. The three had been murdered, and when Vigilius arrived in the late fourth century, he gathered the remains of the evangelists and buried them outside the city walls of Tridentium. An early basilica was built on the spot, and then, much later, the Duomo would be built over the first basilica.

Tombstone of Bp Giorgio Hack

Today one can go beneath the main floor of the duomo and view the archeological remains of the earlier church. This is mostly funerary art, a couple of sarcophagi, and some fragments of an ancient Roman mosaic.

Onward. After a pizza luncheon, we hiked across the town to the Castello del Buonconsiglio. The castle was the primary residence of the Prince-Bishops of Trento. In the medieval period, Northern Italy was under the control of the Germanic, Holy Roman Emperors. In order to enforce their will, the emperors had co-opted the high-ranking members of the church (bishops and abbots) and gave them secular power to help the emperor secure his lands. The Emperor granted the bishops of Trento the right to rule over much of the South TIrol, and consequently, these bishops enjoyed great power, prestige, and wealth

Castello

Their palace is a testament to their position in society. It is a vast stone complex that has evolved from a defensive fortification to a Renaissance-era country home. The palace was seized by the Austrian army and converted into a military facility during the First World War, but it has now been restored to its original splendor.

Castello

And how splendid! Today the Castello serves as a museum. As we wandered up the great stone staircases, we passed through the different periods of its life (Roman, Medieval, Renaissance). We viewed art and artifacts from each of these periods and marveled at the wealth that was displayed in each chamber.  

Today's Selfie

It was a large museum, and the clock had made a significant advance before we finished our tour. There was so much more to see in this town, that I cannot help but hope we will return again sometime in the near future.