Palazzo Thun is a historic building in Trento overlooking via Belenzani: for about four centuries it was the city residence of the Thun-Hohenstein family, owners of the castle of Vigo di Ton, in the Val di Non, and since the second half of the 19th century it has housed the Town Hall.
What to see
The building is organised around courtyards, in several bodies with a tower and a chapel. On the corner of via delle Orne and on the opposite one, two stone shields show the Thun emblem, a Germanisation of the name de Tono. The façade has a Renaissance portal with a round arch, ornamented with circular decorations in a stone resembling jasper and topped by a stone balcony; the front is marked by three orders of architraved windows and by a series of smaller openings under the crown. Beside the portal and in some inner rooms are plaques in memory of the Trentino volunteers who fell in the First World War and of those who fought in the Austro-Hungarian army. Inside are several frescoed rooms; among the works stand out those donated to the city in 1902, from the façade of Casa Cloz-Salvetti-Zandroni-Garavaglia de Soresina in via San Marco and attributed to Domenico Ricci, known as il Brusasorci, considered one of the most significant and precious secular cycles of the 16th century.
The family's influence in the city took shape in 1454 with the first purchase, by Sigismondo de Thono, of a group of buildings in contrada Bellenzani, in the San Benedetto quarter; a chapel dedicated to San Biagio, consecrated in 1489, was attached to it. The policy of acquisitions and renewal was continued by a second Sigismondo Thun, who followed the ideas of urban reorganisation of Prince-Bishop Bernardo Clesio, later carried on by Cristoforo Madruzzo: in 1543, two years before the start of the Council, he completed the acquisitions with a feudal house, a farmhouse in contrada delle Orne and the tower called «delli Mirani» or «Marcolina», and restoration work is documented between 1550 and 1557. In 1703 the block was damaged by the bombardment of the French troops during the siege of Trento, and the chapel of San Biagio was reconsecrated in 1732 after rebuilding work. In the mid-18th century part of the garden was entrusted to the Compagnia della Morte, which built the Chiesa della Morte there to a design by Camillo Vinoto; after the Napoleonic suppression of the confraternities the church was used as a library and archive. In 1871, because of the family's financial difficulties, the palace was put up for auction and moved toward becoming the comune's property: the works begun in 1873, with an intervention by the architect Rodolfo Vantini, brought the seat of the Town Hall into the «upper» palace, while furniture, furnishings and paintings remained with the family and were moved to the other residences of Count Matteo Thunn.
Visiting
Since it is the seat of the Trento Town Hall, hours and the possibility of visiting the courtyards and rooms should be checked with the comune, because the sources consulted do not give them.
Our editors' tip
Look at the two stone shields at the corners and at the portal with its circular decorations; then, if you can enter the courtyard, look for the original Neptune of the fountain in piazza Duomo, replaced in the square by a bronze copy.
