Buonconsiglio Castle (Italian: Castello del Buonconsiglio) is a castle in Trento, northern Italy.
History
The castle originated from a fortified building that was erected in the 13th century next to the city's walls. This first building was called Castelvecchio ("Old Castle"), and was the seat of the Bishopric of Trent from the 13th century onwards to the end of the 18th century. The castle is composed of a series of buildings of different eras, enclosed by a circle of walls in a slightly elevated position above the town. The, as called, Castelvecchio is the oldest and most dominant building of the entire housing development. The Magno Palazzo is the sixteenth expansion in the forms of the Italian Renaissance, wanted by the Prince Bishop and Cardinal Bernardo Clesio (1485-1539), the third part, in the southern end of the complex is the known Eagle tower, which preserves the famous Cycle of the Months, one of the most fascinating pictorial cycles of profane late Middle Ages.

Bishop George of Liechtenstein was the first to enlarge the castle, in the late 14th century, turning it into a well-styled residence. The Castelvecchio was further modified by Johannes Hinderbach, who had the double loggia Gothic entrance gate built. In the first decades of the 16th century, Bishop Bernardo Clesio had a new residence, called Palazzo Magno ("Grand Palace") built in Renaissance style alongside the old castle. The last great addition was the so-called Giunta Albertiana, from the name of Bishop Francesco Alberti Poja (1686), with which the Castelvecchio and the Palazzo Magno were united

The castle remained the seat of the Prince-Bishops until 1803. Used by the Austrians as military barracks and, later, as a jail, it decayed. In the 1920s, when Trento was returned to Italy, it became seat of a National Museum and was restored. Since 1992 it is home to the Provincial Gallery of Art.

According to legend, it was connected by a secret tunnel to the city's cathedral, which allowed the prince-bishops to move unseen between them.

Buonconsiglio Castle

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The tower around which the Castello della Torre was built served as a guard post over the road leading from the Rocchetta Pass into the Val di Non valley.

The actual castle palace dates back to the 16th century. At that time the tower and its building were bought by Sigmund Spaur who surrounded the complex with two walls and added two turrets. Also a prison, still preserved today, was added to the castle. Monsignor Gianmichele, heir of the dynasty and archbishop of Trento, modernised the castle and built a little chapel dedicated to S. Apollonia in 1619.

After numerous changes of ownership, the castle is a residence today and not open to the public.

https://www.trentino.com

Castello della Torre

Built in the 13th century, Castel Pergine was owned by the counts of Austria for quite some time, from Lady Margarethe Maultasch to the Austrian emperor Maximilian I. In 1521, the castle was passed on to the prince bishops of Trento. In 1900 it was bought by a German enterprise, which rennovated the place. Since then the castle has slowly been turned into a hotel and restaurant.

Worth seeing are the throne room and the Sant’Andrea chapel on the first floor. The five halls on the second floor host various exhibitions, ranging from local fruits and sites of interest to information about the castle itself. Moreover, you can look forward to temporary exhibitions, such as the sculptures and figures set up in the inner courtyard, the room of arms, the prison, the chapel and the park.

The ground, first and second floors are always open to the public.

On Mondays the castle is closed until 5 pm.

https://www.trentino.com

Castel Pergine

Castel Madruzzo

Numerous legends and myths grow around this romantic castle on the shores of Lake Toblino.
Built as an ancient temple on the sunny shores of Lake Toblino, Castel Toblino is nowadays one of the most renowned lake fortresses all over Trentino.

Numerous legends and forbidden love affairs have made this pretty castle so famous. It was by the way Cardinal Bernardo Clesio in the 16th century and later on the nobles of Madruzzo, who made the castle look the way it does today. All that remains of the medieval castle layout are the wall to the west and a turret to the north-west. The cylindrical tower, the symbol of the castle, has a height of 20 metres and is therefore the main tower of the complex.

In the course of the years the castle has been turned into a hotel and restaurant. Castel Toblino can be visited by appointment.

Castel Toblino

Amidst the woods of Faedo, a stronghold of the Counts of Appiano is located which once was the seat of the court and the centre of power during the Königsberg Dynasty, who ruled the area around the villages of Lavis, Pressano, Nave, San Michele, Faedo, Giovo, Lisignago, Cembra, Faver and Valda. Monreale Castle, located in the south of Tyrol at that time, had an important strategic significance as the trade routes between north and south passed by here.

Over the centuries, the castle changed hands several times and was also owned by the Counts of Tyrol, the Prince Bishops of Trento and the Habsburgs. The venerable walls were often restored and rebuilt, from the former appearance there is still today a crenellated ring wall and a massive hexagonal tower. Inside the Castello di Monreale there is also a castle chapel.

Today it is owned by the Merano entrepreneur Karl Schmid and is the seat of an agricultural enterprise. The castle can be visited by prior arrangement with the owner.

https://www.trentino.com

Castello di Monreale

Castel Beseno, near Rovereto, is the largest feudal fortress all over the Trentino region.

Those travelling from Rovereto to the city of Trento across the Vallagarina valley, will be immediately attracted by the majestic fortress on the hill near to Folgaria. Here on this strategically so important place towers Trentino’s largest fortress, referred to as Castel Beseno. First written documents date back to the 12th century, when the castle still belonged to the counts of Appiano and served as a residence to the aristocratic family Da Beseno.

In the following years and centuries, the castle witnessed a rather turbulent history. In 1470 it was handed over to the counts Trapp, a noble family from Styria affiliated with the Austrian emperor. Soon the castle had to be rennovated due to a fire and the medieval castle turned into a residence. Threatened by decay, the castle was given to the Province of Trento, rennovated and made a remote seat of the Castello del Buonconsiglio Museum.

Two mighty elliptical walls featuring a length of 250 and a width of 55 metres surround the castle. Worth seeing are also the dark castle gate, the drawbridge, the crenels and the arena.
https://www.trentino.com

Castel Beseno

Castel Belfort is located on the road between the municipalities of Cavedago and Spormaggiore.

The castle was built in 1311, when Count Heinrich of Tyrol gave the permission to build a tower with potential adjoining buildings. Today the castle is in ruinous condition, nevertheless it is still quite impressive and well-recognizable. The ancient crenellated tower is walled, from the building itself only the exterior stone walls have been preserved until today. Belfort Castle shows no medieval elements because it was destroyed in a terrible fire.

In the 17th century a new building was erected, but it was destroyed again in the Era of Napoleon.

The castle ruin is open to the public and can be visited.
https://www.trentino.com

Castel Belfort

Castel San Gottardo è un castello costruito prima del 1181. Esso si trova sopra l'abitato di Mezzocorona in Trentino.
Anticamente questo castello era denominato Corona di Mezo, e solo in seguito venne utilizzato il nome attuale. In realtà, con il termine "Mezo", si indicava tutta la pianura a destra e a sinistra del torrente Noce, dicesi derivante dalla lingua latina Mezo o Mez, ovvero "pianura" o anche "palude", nonostante il termine sia di origine prelatina. Il termine trentino "corona" deriva invece dalla parola tedesca Lueg e Loch traducibile con "buco". Il termine "crona" è invece la forma dialettale di corona, usato per indicare cenge e pare derivi dal termine celtico carn.

Il castello era dotato, e sono tuttora distinguibili, di un portone d'ingresso sopra al quale si trova ancora oggi lo stemma con il drago e le feritoie poste a difesa dell'accesso. Assieme al castello, si trovano anche i resti di un avamposto di difesa, quelli di un palazzetto dove probabilmente soggiornavano i conti Firmian, una fonte d'acqua e la chiesetta dedicata a San Gottardo, patrono del paese di Mezzocorona, e risalente al XIII secolo.

Si hanno tracce del castello nel 1181, quindi è probabile che questo esistesse già in precedenza. In effetti, nel 1158 i conti di Appiano sequestrarono ed imprigionarono il vescovo trentino Adalberto alla Corona di Mez. Il popolo trentino decise di liberarlo anche usando la forza, ma data la difficoltà di raggiungere il maniero, decisero di utilizzare il fuoco. Nel 1209, sotto la guida degli Arcoi e dei Beseno, alcuni ribelli coadiuvati dai vassalli Mez insorsero contro il vescovo Federico Vanga; occuparono quindi il castello di Povo, quello di Cedra e assediarono quello di Mez, che fu saccheggiato e depredato.

In seguito, con l'arrivo del Rinascimento, i castelli arroccati strategicamente come questo furono abbandonati in modo da favorire accessi maggiormente comodi. Quindi anche San Gottardo fu abbandonato e quando il conte Nicolò Firmian divenne possessore della giurisdizione di Mezzocorona, dopo aver sposato l'ultima erede della famiglia Mez, decise di far costruire ai piedi del precedente maniero il Castel Firmian, sicuramente più facile da raggiungere. Questo era dotato di una torre quadrata e di una cinta muraria ulteriormente protetta da fossati.

Sempre meno usato nel 1400, agli inizi del Cinquecento il castello era al tramonto della sua vita. Solamente alcune persone addette alla guardia o alcuni eremiti giungevano fin lì, in quanto accanto al castello si trovava un piccolo santuario dedicato a San Gottardo, il quale, secondo la leggenda del basilisco di Mezzocorona, lo aveva ucciso salvando i villaggi della Piana Rotaliana. Lì, dove viveva quest'essere, fu costruito l'omonimo castello.

Solamente fino agli anni 1525-1526 il castello recitò la sua ultima funzione di fortezza, quando vi furono le rivolte contadine e quindi fu anche dotato di cannoni; negli anni di seguito vennero riutilizzati per festeggiare ad esempio la festa del patrono paesano, San Gottardo. L'ultimo suo restauro risale al 1735, e da lì anche i pellegrini iniziarono a diminuire fino a che Giuseppe II li vietò.

Castel San Gottardo

The medieval castle complex of Pietra is located at the edge of the village of Calliano in the Vallagarina valley. The different styles of the building prove that it was extended, rebuilt and restored several times over the centuries. The Gothic style is predominant, inside there are still some valuable medieval treasures, such as the “Sala del Giudizio”, the courtroom with its impressive fresco cycle from the 15th century (1468-1478), which shows scenes from life at court.

Pietra Castle was built as an outpost for Beseno Castle, which rises above it. It owes its name to the fact that it is located on a large cliff edge, the remains of a huge landslide: the Italian word “pietra” means “stone”. Built in a strategic position, it was situated at the border between the county of Tyrol and the Venetian Republic until the 16th century. This area was the scene of battles that went down in history, such as the Battle of Calliano on the 10th of August 1487 or the meeting of Austrian and French troops under Napoleon at the end of the 18th century.

Pietra Castle has been owned by the same family since 1738 and can be visited. Also events take place there.

https://www.trentino.com

Castel Pietra

At the foot of Castel Drena, which dominates the deep gorge of Rio Sallagoni, visible from the high crenellated tower, lies the striking Marocche desert, created by a peculiar glacial phenomenon that produced a field of boulders for a total of 187 million cubic metres.

Built during the 13th century, Castel Drena possibly stands over a prehistoric village. Its strategic location made it the subject of continuous disputes in the Middle Ages, since it blocked and controlled the only viable passage.

Impervious to fire, defended by two tiers of walls and built on the rock in a dominant position, the castle was impregnable with the assault means used at the time. The building’s style is essentially Romanesque, with some Gothic elements and a few 16th century structures.

The remains of a small church dedicated to St. Martin, a cult that followed the Franks expansion, document that the area was actively frequented already in the Carolingian period (9th- 10th century).

https://www.visittrentino.info