Throughout the eventful history of the present millennium the Tyrol has been the cockpit of Germano-Romance clashes. A lively competition between German and Italian traders has always been maintained within its borders. During the era of religious upheavals, the Germans rallied to the cause of the Reformation while the Italian element remained faithful to the authority of the Vatican. Contact with the Teutonic element appears to have failed, however, to eradicate or modify the Italian character of the region’s life and institutions.[59] The splendor of the Italian Renaissance stamped its mark on all the Tyrolese districts drained by waters flowing southwards. Castles and churches of the Trentino show the influence of Italian architectural styles. Their interior ornamentation derived its inspiration from the same source. In painting, the Bressanone and Bolzano schools of the fifteenth century likewise maintained Italian traditions in the valley of the upper Adige. Statues and bas-reliefs in the towns of this region also bear witness to the Italian taste of its inhabitants. All these artistic leanings towards Italy are best observed in Trent itself. The celebrated castle of the “Buen Consiglio” is a blend of Venetian and Veronese styles. Bramante was the architect of the Tabarelli palace, and a disciple of Tullio Lombardo built that of Moar. The Duomo di Trento owes its beauty mainly to the artistic conceptions of the Comacini masters. Some of its frescoes dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are the handicraft of Veronese artists. This Italian influence has been maintained to the present day. A tourist reaching the city will behold Dante’s symbolic statue--the work of Zocchi, a Florentine--immediately upon leaving the main station.[60] Roaming through the city his attention will be attracted by innumerable reminders of modern Italian work of the type seen in the façade of St. Peter’s church. These are concrete manifestations of an intellectual and artistic outflow from the Italian border northward. Reports on the German propaganda carried on in the Trentino have been made on several occasions to their governments by Italian consular agents.[61] This movement is prosecuted with untiring perseverance by the members of the Tiroler Volksbund, an organization founded in 1905, for the purpose of diffusing German language and customs in southern Tyrol. Schools and other institutions managed by German staffs provide Teutonic education free of cost to the natives. Periodicals and pamphlets are distributed profusely to this end. Lectures setting forth the Germanic origins of Trentino settlements are delivered. A more aggressive method of action consists in sending out “Wanderlehrers” or traveling teachers to give elementary courses from village to village.