The dinners of the Council of Trento: the 16th century

The table is laid, the meat is properly roasted, the sideboard has been topped up with all kinds of goodies, and the “scalco” (steward) is checking the final details. Welcome to the dinner of the Council of Trento, a banquet organized by the Museo Diocesano Tridentino, and inspired by the real dinners described by the participants in that historic event.

The special dinner is the last and most important step in a rich and fascinating journey through the Trento of 1545, where participants will have the opportunity to discover the places and the characters of the Council. The visit will start in the halls of the Museo Tridentino and will then continue in the streets and squares of the city centre, among churches, palaces and towers that still bear the traces of the event that made Trento renown in the world.

At the end of the tour, participants will be invited to experience a Renaissance-style banquet, accompanied by the learned explanations of an expert, who will describe the dishes and the curious ways of dining in the 16th-17th and 18 th centuries. Dinner will be served in the splendid setting of a secret garden, lit by a fire to mark the special occasion.

Two dinners will be dedicated to the 16th century, while the last three will continue the journey through time and take us to the Baroque era, when the quest for 'wonder' was the cultural goal of a period enlivened by festivities and luxurious pageantry.

The menu for the dinners varies according to what nature, the fields and forests of Trentino have to offer at that time. The carver will prepare pork, veal, kid or lamb, pheasants, ducks and chickens prepared with different types of cooking and marinades. There will also be fish from Lake Garda such as tench, pike or trout, accompanied by cooked and raw seasonal vegetables and buckwheat bread. Soup with egg pasta and much more will complete the meal, with wines from Trentino chosen by the master cupbearer for the conviviality of the time.

Source: www.museodiocesanotridentino.it