Chasing the sun, Sun, 12 Sep 2021 | written by Jemma
Jemma and Simon at a Castle, City, Museum, Temple in Europe, Italy

We woke up to more incredible views – I’ve been very pleased with the parking spots we’ve found so far on this trip! Mountains with the small city of Trento in between them. We decided to leave the van where we had parked overnight and walk down to the city – this turned out to be a good decision, as unbeknown to us, the Union Europenne De Cyclisme men’s road chamionship grand finale was happening in Trento today, so finding somewhere in town to part probably would have been a nightmare.

First attraction of the day was the Buonconsiglio castle. It is immense, made up of several buildings from different eras and enclosed within the city walls. This castle was the seat of the Prince-Bishop of Trent from 13th to 18th centuries. These bishops enjoyed a damn fine & fancy castle! Initially we thought only the oldest part of the castle was open and we’d be able to get through within an hour or so, but no! There was so much more! And the displays and interiors got more interesting as we progressed in the massive renaissance section of the castle. The most awesome thing we saw was in the Eagle tower: the Cycle of the Months frescos. They beautifully depict the ideal feudal world with activities of for each month of the year. Such as nobles stroking falcons while peasants plough the fields. The bishop wanted to show off how perfect the realm was under his rule, but apparently even at that time it was in social unrest all the time. Some wishful thinking! I was sad to see that the image for my birthday month, March, had been destroyed as it was the only one painted on a wooden staircase that has burned down since. We sat in the garden of the palace to eat some brie that had become molten in the backpack…

It was now the middle of the day and superrrr hot. We walked towards a massive badass monument of Dante in a piazza. Took some photos and then scurried back into the shade.

As we headed back into the old town, we realised that this bike race was happening, and therefore it was a bit tricky to get about. After crossing the race track, we visted the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. This church is historically interesting as it’s where the Council of Trent met. However, the interior was quite baroquen and not super interesting.

As I said, it was a superrr hot day, so we needed ice cream! And this really was the best ice cream I have ever had. A scoop of expresso flavour and another of pictaccio, with molten chocolate and crushed hazelnuts lining the comb. It was amazing!

We then went to the Tridentine Diocesan museum, which had lots of information about the Council of Trent, and about the little Simon of Trent. It also housed some religious artworks, but we had reached saturation point before and quickly walked through the top two floors of the museum – it had been a more full-on day than we had anticipated.

We ended the day in a perfectly chilled way… by a lake, surrounded by mountains. It was so good to have a dip and cool off, and have a moment to relax. Now we’re driving in the van to Venice, and we’ve just left the Alps behind us.