Emblem of the ancient splendor of one of the richest and most powerful families in the Trentino, Castel Thun still dominates the Valle di Non, imposing and austere. The manor of Thun is one of the most interesting examples of castellan architecture. It combines the beautiful building and the large gardens with a complex system of fortifications, consisting of towers, bastions, ditches and walls.
Castel Thun History
Built in the middle of the 13th century on top of a hill at 609 m. above the village of Vigo di Ton, in a beautiful panoramic position with respect to the entire Valle di Non, it was the seat of the noble Thun family, who lived there until 1992.
The castle, a splendid example of Trentino's castle architecture, today preserves the original furnishings, the precious art collection, a rich art gallery and an important library with thousands of volumes.
The typically Gothic structure is surrounded by a vast system of regular-shaped fortifications, with four lookout towers, ramparts, ramparts, moat and roundabout. Overall, the "Spanish Door" built in Moorish style and dating back to 1566 stands out, named in memory of a legendary trip to Spain by Giorgio Thun.
After passing through the first courtyard, we find the entrance to the town hall; on the ground floor are the public rooms, while on the first floor the rooms of the lords. Among the numerous halls are the Bishop's room, where the Prince Bishop Sigismondo Alfonso slept, the room of the fireplace with its magnificent Renaissance fireplace and the room of the Dead that still today shows on its blackened walls the signs of the smoke of lit candles during the funeral vigils.
The defenses of the first wall were reinforced by the four corner towers: the tower of the dust and the tower of Francesco Agostino, the tower of Basilio and that of the Library. In the same century the gate is emblazoned between the two towers of the prisons (1541), the "Spanish" gate (1566), perhaps borrowed from an Iberian artifact by GiorgioThun on his return from the trip to Spain following the emperor Charles V.
In the middle of the century, a bishop's prince, another thun, Domenico Antonio, a two-step staircase was built. Tomaso Giovanni Thun (1737-1796), prince bishop of Passavia, then dedicated himself to the expansion of the complex. The keep was modified and raised, while along the road the polygonal shrine dedicated to San Giovanni Nepomuceno was erected.
After the Napoleonic stripping and sales decided by Matteo Thun (1812-1892), the complex was ceded to Francesco Thun, of the Bohemian branch of the family, who with his son Zdenko furnished the castle and worked in the Italian gardens in the field. In 1992 the Province of Trento acquired the entire complex of paintings, furniture, archive and library of 7,300 books.
The chapel of the manor, dedicated to St. George, preserves an interesting cycle of frescoes of the German school dating back to the fifteenth century. All this is added to the portraits of the princes bishops, silverware, glass, porcelain, carriages, helping to recreate the atmosphere of the lively life of the nobility of Trentino.