Fénis Castle — Attraction in Fénis

I think this castle is good to see if 1) you’ve never seen a castle in person before, or 2) you’re under the age of 10. As English speakers, we took the only tour available which was in Italian (I don’t mind; I’m practicing). There is sufficient signage in English in each room we visited to get a sense of what we were seeing, plus we were handed a pamphlet that was partially in English. Even with all of that, Fenis castle just felt underwhelming—and not really worth the €9 each (castle only, no museum). A lot of what we saw was reproduction, approximately as old (from the period), or not from the original castle. Additionally, after the guided tour (you cannot look independently), we were invited to walk around the outside of the castle, but could not explore the inside any further. That was disappointing. I’ve seen several European castles, and this one felt like a toy in comparison, and lacked rich historical information at the site (I understood most of what was said in Italian—just no ‘juicy’ facts to make the guided tour interesting). The guide was very nice, and didn’t hurry our group so everyone could take pictures. It was just an okay...

I visited the castle on a sunday, the visit can only be made in a guided group so you have to wait a bit for the next slot. That is not a problem as the castle exterior is amazing and you can spend the time just admiring it. The tour is made in italian only, but there is some information in english along the way (although a bit lacking). I was a bit disappointed with the tour because the rooms we visited in the castle were very limited, it felt as if we were constrained and just shown a small glimpse of the overall layout of the building. The highlight for me really was the exterior, which you can see without paying anything. If you are only an English speaker then I do not think it is worth it to pay for the entrance. (Although I think that even in Italian it is a bit lacking, or maybe I was just expecting more). The staircase with the frescoes really is something worth seeing, but again it is a bit restricted (in this case it seems to be because of safety reasons so can't...

If you don’t speak Italian, I would not recommend visiting this castle. The visit is only by guided tour, and while they do give you an audio guide in English or French, you’re forced to follow the tour in Italian. The guide speaks so loudly that it’s impossible to hear the audio guide, and he moves from room to room faster than the audio track plays — so you never get to finish listening before being rushed to the next spot.

When I politely asked the guide to speak more slowly so I could follow the audio guide while in the corresponding room, he replied that I should “listen to it outside” and basically told me to deal with it.

You’re not allowed to explore the castle on your own, so the entire experience is just trying to catch bits of your audio guide while enduring someone shouting in Italian right next to you.

Bottom line: Absolutely not recommended if you don’t speak Italian. It’s a waste of time and money in...