Trento's heart is this busy yet intimate piazza, dominated, of course, by the duomo, but also host to the Fontana del Nettuno, a flashy late-baroque fountain rather whimsically dedicated to Neptune. Intricate, allegorical frescoes decorate the 16th-century facades of the Case Cazuffi-Rella, two private Renaissance houses on the piazza's northern...

　　A stunning modernist architectural work, courtesy of Renzo Piano, houses this 21st-century science museum and cleverly echoes the local landscape. Curatorially, the museum typifies the city's brainy inquisitiveness, with highly interactive exhibitions that explore the Alpine environment, biodiversity and sustainability, society and technology. Highlights are a truly amazing collection of...

　　Built by a Venetian family as a summer house in the 1540s, this villa 7km southwest of Trento is one of Trentino's most beautiful historic sites. Frescoes documenting the life of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V line a series of reception rooms and are startling both for their narrative content...

　　This is one of the oldest and largest gardens in the Alps; more than 2000 species of rare high-altitude plants are nurtured in this beautiful, fragile environment. Now overseen by MUSE, there is a program of talks and walks, as well as a forest playground constructed from natural elements. ...

　　This city gallery/project space is the Trento campus of the Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto and focuses on 20th-century and contemporary art, architecture and design. The small space's seasonal program is always fascinating and tightly curated and there's an interesting little merchandise shop in the...

　　Once host to the Council of Trent, this dimly lit Romanesque cathedral displays fragments of medieval frescoes inside its transepts. Two colonnaded stairways flank the nave, leading, it seems, to heaven. Below is a paleo-Christian archaeological area, which includes the Basilica Paleocristiana di San Vigilio, a 4th-century temple devoted to...

　　Guarded by hulking fortifications, this massive edifice was home to Trento's bishop-princes until Napoleon's arrival in 1801. Enclosed within is the original 13th-century castle, the Castelvecchio, along with the residential rooms of the Renaissance-era Magno Palazzo, and the upstairs loggia with its lovely Adige valley views. Pay separate admission to...

　　Sitting alongside the duomo, this former bishop's residence dates from the 11th century. It now houses one of Italy's most important ecclesiastical collections, with enormous documentary paintings of the Council of Trent, along with Flemish tapestries, illustrated manuscripts, vestments, and some particularly opulent reliquaries. Admission price includes entry to the...