The beauty of the landscapes in the park around the Madruzzo family’s villa continues in the splendid interiors, decorated with magnificent frescoes painted by the same artists that in the middle of the 16th century worked on the rooms in the Buonconsiglio Castle.
During this period, the Humanist culture was having a major impact on Trento, and the leading local families had important cycles of frescoes painted which were dedicated to the grand themes being discussed by intellectuals and scholars: the Age of Man, the seven liberal arts and the cardinal and theological virtues.
These are the themes we can see depicted on the pictorial decorations in Palazzo delle Albere, in which all the reception rooms were located in the towers on the first and second floor, where a large number of frescoes have been preserved. On the ground floor was the Grand Hall, where the finest cycle of frescoes in the villa was painted; one cycle showed the glorious undertakings of the emperor, Charles V, but, unfortunately, just a few fragments remain, while we can still admire the frescoes symbolizing the twelve months of the year.
In 1796, a huge fire caused irreparable damage to the building, marking the start of a long period of relentless decline. Palazzo delle Albere has been used for a variety of purposes over the years, including barracks, a prison, a hospital and even a hayshed, with damaging consequences for its immense artistic heritage, starting with the loss of numerous frescoes and the small tower in the middle of the roof.
Significant restoration work was carried out on the building from the 1970s, and from 1987 to 2010 it hosted the Trento part of the MART, the prestigious Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto. Since 2015, Palazzo delle Albere has been used to host temporary exhibitions.
An interesting fact: Cristoforo Madruzzo became Bishop of Trento at the age of just 27, thanks to his links with the imperial court, and at 33 he was made a cardinal by the Pope – he certainly climbed the career ladder fast!
