There is a truly incomprehensible place in Texas: it is called Fort Worth and for decades it has been a sort of hatchery for the most skilled cowboys in the region, to the point that the town was known in the surrounding area with the unflattering name of “cow city“.

In fact, the local economy has long gravitated to the breeding of cattle, in particular the so-called longhorns, cows characterized by very long horns that protrude laterally.

Today, to cheer the increasingly full-bodied tourist flow that inserts Fort Worth among the attractions not to be missed while traveling in Texas, a neighborhood has even been recreated that recalls in all respects those ancient traditions, which in the meantime time has confined to an area-specific, but still important for the local economy: it’s called the Stockyards District and is dotted with everything western can do, including a daily double parade of a herd of well-trained cowboys designed to turn the clock back to the times in which for an unauthorized drink one ended up killing.

In the shops of the neighborhood, you can breathe the air of duels and stagecoaches: from hats to boots, from buckles to horse harness, it is all a flourishing of objects that take you back to the magical world of the conquest of the west. Including the restaurants, where it is possible to immerse yourself in the role of the foreigner on duty and, in the atmosphere of a real period saloon, taste excellent meat.

Obviously, a space dedicated to rodeos could not be missing, a sort of covered stadium within which weekly tournaments are held in which to crown the best cattle tamer in the area.

But surprisingly Fort Worth does not end in western atmospheres: it seems impossible, but there are five of the most prestigious museums in the United States. Some focus on local history and nature, but others exhibit works of art so precious that they can compete with more renowned structures of the old continent.

The National Cowgirl Museum is the only one in the world dedicated to the pioneering spirit of the women of the Old West, with original artifacts, a thematic library, and an archive that summarizes the entire history of female conquest.

The Museum of Natural Sciences and History collects local evidence, but Kimbell Art is the most surprising of all: two buildings, one designed by Renzo Piano and the other by Louis Kahn, house works of art by world-famous artists, from Van Gogh to Monet, from Rubens to Rembrandt, from Cezanne to Mantegna, from Beato Angelico to Michelangelo, his only work on American soil.

The Modern Art Museum, the work of Tadao Ando, ​​which exhibits masterpieces by Warhol, Bacon and Sol Lewitt, is no exception. Finally, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, philanthropist of the city, which has collected a collection of priceless works of art, now exhibited in the museum that bears his name.

There really is something for all artistic tastes, in Fort Worth, other than cowcity!