Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore

Santa Maria Maggiore, built between 1520 and 1524 for Prince-Bishop Bernardo Cles, hosted the final phase of the Council of Trent from 1562. Its Renaissance architecture stands above Roman remains and is accompanied by altarpieces and carved choir work.

Why it matters

From 13 April 1562, general congregations of the Council's final phase were held here. A semicircular wooden tribune was erected in the nave for the assembled fathers and is documented in contemporary paintings and engravings. The church was part of Prince-Bishop Bernardo Cles's wider programme of building in Trento, which also included work at the Magno Palazzo in the castle.

What to notice

The church's austere Renaissance interior was designed by the comacino architect Antonio Medaglia and is crowned by the city's tallest bell tower. The organ cantoria was carved by the Vicentine sculptors Vincenzo and Girolamo Grandi; the large organ doors, painted by Giovanni Maria Falconetto in 1508 and originally made for the Duomo's organ, hang as pictures in their own right. Altarpieces by Giovanni Battista Moroni, Pietro Ricchi, Francesco Unterperger and Giambettino Cignaroli line the chapels, and the vault carries scenes and figures of the Tridentine synod painted in 1902 by Sigismondo Nardi. Excavations document the earlier Roman bathing complex and a paleochristian church on the site.

Context and history

By the end of the first century AD, a Roman bathing complex occupied the site, with a monumental pool and marble decoration. It survived in some form until the fifth century, when the area was dismantled and buried. Successive churches later occupied the ground, including the medieval Santa Maria ad Nives and the Renaissance building. Between 1520 and 1524 Prince-Bishop Bernardo Clesio rebuilt the church in the Renaissance manner, employing Antonio Medaglia; three decades later the Council gave it its defining chapter, and in 1902 the vault frescoes by the Marche painter Sigismondo Nardi restaged the synod overhead.