The Piazza del Duomo was a theatre of power in the Renaissance. Fireworks and artillery thundered to mark royal entries or the proclamation of a new Holy Roman Emperor. But the square also pulsed with everyday life, packed with market shoppers, foreign merchants, town criers and beggars. Explore it in 1520 with Ursula, in 'Innkeepers, princes and migrants', and with Angelo in 'City of the Council', set in 1563: two of the audio trails in the free Hidden Trento app. Tap find out more.

After the great plague of 1630, the remains of Trento's patron saint San Viglio were rehoused in a silver casket to mark the city's deliverance. Still paraded every year on June 26, you'll find this stunning civic symbol at the Museo Diocesano Tridentino. It's just one of the museum's treasure trove of objects, paintings and statues featured in 'City of the Dead' and 'Sword and the Cross', two free audio trails that transport you back to a dramatic day in December 1658. Tap find out more.

In Piazza Pasi, once called the Piazzola, you'll spot frescoes on the facade of a tall white palace beside Pasi bar. On the left, San Rocco, with his staff and dog. On the right San Sebastiano, punctured by arrows. These are images of plague saints, commissioned by the palace owners, the Bernardelli - a painted prayer for divine protection from epidemic. Hear Bartolo's take in 'City of the Dead', set in 1658, one of four audio trails in the free Hidden Trento app. Tap find out more.

The final, crucial sessions of the Council of Trent were held at Santa Maria Maggiore in 1562-63, their goal to oppose the Lutheran heresy and thrash out Church reform. Bishops and ambassadors from nations across Europe quarrelled fiercely - almost as fiercely as some of their trigger-happy followers in the piazza outside - but they finally agreed a set of decrees that set up the basic shape of Catholicism for centuries. Find out more in Angelo's 'City of the Council' audio trail.

Inn signs, such as this one at what is now the Due Mori trattoria, were once common in the district of San Pietro. Taverns such as the Serpent, the Cross, the Crown, the Sun and the Rose clustered here, largely run by the German migrants who had made this neighbourhood their home. On any sixteenth-century evening you'd find travellers, drinkers and gamblers inside, and perhaps entertainment by minstrels or buffoons. Find out more in Ursula's 'Innkeepers, princes and migrants' audio trail.

Buonconsiglio Castle, now the Provincial Museum, was for centuries the power base of the Prince-Bishops of Trento. Modernized in the 16th century, with frescoes inside and a magnificent loggia added at the front, it was where the prince-bishop entertained kings, princes, and cardinals. As the menu for a banquet in the loggia to mark the close of the Council of Trent extravagantly attests, they knew how to throw a party here. Find out more in Angelo’s ‘City of the Council’ audio trail.

The body of Christ was raised twice in the church of San Pietro, since mass was celebrated by both a German and an Italian priest. With its pointed, German-style belltower, San Pietro was the spiritual hub of Trento's migrant community. It also once housed the tomb of child 'martyr' Simonino, whom authorities claimed was sacrificed by the district's Jews in 1475, a classic example of an anti-Semitic 'blood libel'. Find out more in Ursula's 'Innkeepers, princes and migrants' audio trail.

"Death conquers all. There are none so rich, wise or strong that they don’t fall down at the feet of Death.” So reads the 17th-century tomb slab to the left of the door at San Marco, one of many under the portico here. Even for wealthy families buried inside the church, death was seen as the great leveller, and it never felt too far away in an age of plague epidemic. Let Bartolo transport you to 1658 in 'City of the Dead', a free audio trail on a Renaissance map. Tap find out more.

The Tower in the Piazza, now a museum, spoke to Trentini of civic power. From the 13th century its bells dominated Trento's sonic landscape. By the 15th century the city's ryhthms were further marked out by the addition of the tower's first mechanical clock. Around the same time it became the city's jail, and remained so until the 1700s. Inside, traces of graffiti carved by the condemned are still visible. Find out more in Ursula's 'Innkeepers, princes and migrants' audio trail.

The frescoes on the exterior of Palazzo Geremia depict Maximillian I, the young Habsburg prince declared Holy Roman Emperor in Trento in 1508. This was one of the ways Trento's nobility demonstrated their loyalty to the empire as they upgraded their palaces, on the city's most salubrious street, with Renaissance-style facades and decorations. Find out more in Ursula's 'Innkeepers, princes and migrants' audio trial.