Brescia,a beautiful city located at the mouth of the Val Trompia on the slopes of Colle Cidneo and Monte della Maddalena in an area called Alta Padana bordered to the east by the Garda Pre-Alps and to the north by the Brescian Pre-Alps, the second Lombard center after Milan that preserves a remarkable historical and artistic heritage.
An ancient Ligurian settlement, then the base of the Cenomani Gauls and a Roman colony with the name of Brixia, Brescia lived for about four centuries integrated into the Republic of Venice and nicknamed "Lioness of Italy" by Aleardi and Carducci for its tenacious resistance against Austrian rule during the famous 10 Days in 1849 with a popular insurrection facing an oppressor who was never accepted.
I suggest starting the visit from Piazza della Loggia, the beating heart of the city where various monuments of the Renaissance era stand, an urban space developed in 1433 by the Podestà Marco Foscari which took the form of a Venetian square on the Lombard mainland.
You can stop in front of the Loggia, now the town hall, a palace dating back to the fifteenth century whose structure stands out for its large lead dome that dates back to 1914, a reproduction of the original one destroyed in 1575 by a fire that saw the disappearance of a ceiling that boasted three canvases by the great Titian.
The construction of this palace saw the protagonists until 1570, the year in which the works were completed by illustrious architects including Gasparo da Coirano, Palladio, Beretta and Sansovino. The sculptural decoration of the Botticino marble façade is stupendous, with columns and pillars supporting beautiful arches that are interspersed containing busts of Roman Emperors. Visiting the interior you can appreciate the presence of a splendid neo-Renaissance marble staircase built in 1902 by the architect Antonio Tagliaferro.
Continuation with the opposite Torre dell' Orologio characterized by its magnificent astronomical clock with two bronze statues that chime, a scene called in dialect by the locals "i macc de le ure" or the fools of the hours.
On the south side of the square there are two beautiful buildings, the Monti di Pietà, connected to each other by an arch with an aedicule with a façade made up of tombstones and ancient marble sections dating back to the Roman Imperial era, 22 inscriptions and three bas-reliefs that make this complex the largest Italian open-air lapidary museum.
The Old Mount was a work by Filippo de Grassi while the New Mount was executed by Bagnadore both erected between the end of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the façade greatly shows the Venetian influence with a balustrade, noble coats of arms, a loggia and seven arches supported by marble columns.
Through a series of fascinating porticoes you will arrive in front of the Burnt Tower erected in Roman times so called because of a fire that occurred in 1184 dominated by the Milanese Tower dating back to 1100, a building developed on seven floors boasting a height of 30.0 meters crowned by Ghibelline battlements and fourteenth-century corbels.
In a pleasant walk you will then reach Piazza Paolo VI where the two emblematic city churches stand, namely the Duomo Nuovo and Duomo Vecchio.
The first structure raised on a Greek plan within a quadrangular section shows a traditional late Baroque style covered in white Botticino marble by the local architect Gian Battista Laritana, work carried out at the beginning of the seventeenth century although finished in 1825 when a dome was added, the third highest in Italy.
Visiting the interior you will have the opportunity to admire various important works of art such as paintings by Romanino of the sixteenth century, the Nuvolone altarpiece located in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, the other altarpiece of the high altar dating back to 1733 made by Giacinto Zoboli, the sepulchral ark of Sant' Apollonio dated 1510 and other valuable works by Palma il Giovane and Moretto.
Continuation with the Duomo Vecchio also called the "Rotonda" which is characterized by its Romanesque profile, a building erected in stone on a circular plan on the ruins of the Basilica Maggiore demolished between the ninth and tenth centuries with beautiful single-lancet windows on the façade and a lantern at the top covered by a conical section.
The building with three naves inside boasts an enormous heritage with the large fourteenth-century sarcophagus in red Verona marble with bas-reliefs containing the remains of Bishop Maggi, a composition of eight pillars that support the arches under an immense hemispherical dome, various canvases by Moretto, paintings by Romanino, a valuable Antegnati organ and the crypt of San Filastrio embellished with columns and capitals from the Roman period and the Byzantine school of Ravenna.
On the same square we will be able to admire the Broletto located in what was the Roman Decumanus, the ancient administrative seat of the city in the Middle Ages. Built in 1223 on a quadrangular plan, some medieval frescoes by Gentile da Fabriano were developed inside in the atrium of the Prefecture dominated by the Pegol Tower and two fountains.
You will then enter Roman Brescia admiring the remains of the Roman Forum with the remains of the beautiful Capitoline Temple or "Capitolium" built by the Roman Empire between 73 and 74 AD found in 1823 containing three cells of the Republican era and in modern times housing the Lapidary Museum developed in 1830 which contains collections of stelae, epigraphs and other objects from the Imperial period.
It then continues with the Roman Theater erected in the first century of which the remains are visible, a complex that could accommodate about 15,000 spectators, many bronze objects including the Winged Victory were found in its perimeter and today preserved in the famous Museum of Santa Giulia.
Time for your lunch I suggest as traditional first courses Pumpkin Tortelli with Butter and Sage or Risotto with Robiola and Gorgonzola among the main courses to choose Local Hen with Spinach or Beef in Oil with Fried Celery and Carrots.
After lunch you can reach Piazza Vittoria, developed during the fascist period between 1927 and 1932 designed by the architect Marcello Piacentini, where the antiques market takes place every second Sunday of the month, located next to Piazza Mercato, arriving in Corso Palestro, a well-known and lively shopping artery in Brescia.
From here you can easily reach the beautiful Church of St. Francis of Assisi located on the street of the same name. This religious building was erected in the thirteenth century and is a wonderful example of Romanesque-Gothic art on a basilica plan with three naves boasting a beautiful gabled façade. The interior contains valuable frescoes of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by Moretto and Romanino as well as a wonderful cloister of the fourteenth century.
Continuing with the beautiful Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli dating back to the fifteenth century, developed with three naves and four domes, which boasts a splendid façade in Botticino marble inlaid by Gaspare Pedoni at the end of the fifteenth century. Inside you will admire paintings by Bagnadore and the fifteenth-century fresco of the Madonna and Child, a miraculous image that determined the construction of the church.
I then suggest a visit along Corso Matteotti to the Church of Saints Nazaro and Celso which houses one of the youthful masterpieces of the great artist Titian, namely the Averoldi Polyptych which takes its name from the nobleman Altobello Averoldi who was the commissioner of this work executed on five panels depicting the risen Christ, a Virgin with Angel and Saints Nazaro, Celso and Sebastiano.
In the nearby Via Pace stands the Torre della Pallata with a fountain representing the Garza and Mella rivers and Palazzo Colleoni with its beautiful cloister and then reaches Corso Zanardelli where the Teatro Grande dating back to the eighteenth century is located, home to a rich calendar of events every year.
From a small road that leads to Colle Cidneo you will enter the Contrada di Sant' Urbano from where along a not difficult climb you will reach the Castle, during the itinerary you will admire from another perspective the Torre del Broletto, the large dome of the New Cathedral and the suggestive roof of the Loggia enjoying panoramic views of the beautiful city and where we will enter an attractive green area frequent destination of the walks of many Local.
Once in front of the fortress we will stop at the keep developed in 1343 during the period of the Visconti Duchy with its drawbridge and towers surrounded by massive crenellated walls and a wide moat. This section of the stronghold contains the Specola Cidnea, a well-known astronomical observatory and the Civic Museums which consist of the Museum of the Risorgimento and the Luigi Marzoli Museum of Arms.
Afterwards you will be in front of the imposing Panoramic Tower or Mirabella Tower which boasts a height of 22.0 meters from where we will enjoy beautiful panoramic views of the entire city, with wonderful highlights of Mount Maddallena and the Brescia Prealps.
Once you reach the core of the Castle you will find yourself in front of what was once a large fortified citadel with its courts, internal buildings, courtyards with access to basements, drawbridges that connected various spaces, structures developed between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. The circular towers erected between the fifteenth and fifteenth centuries were the work of the Republic of Venice and linked to the Venetian period are also the monumental entrance portal with the effigy of the Lion of St. Mark, the bastions and the warehouses called Grande and Piccolo Miglio which stored agricultural and food products.
The visit ends here, Brescia is a city that offers an immense historical and artistic heritage, visiting it will make you discover unique beauties and will certainly convey the desire to return in the future with great pleasure.
Link : https://www.bresciatourism.it/en/
Where to Stay | Recommended Accomodation
Hotel Ambasciatori
DoubleTree by Hilton Brescia
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Thanks a lot to read and note.