Verona - Brescia Travel Guides | Verona | Sub Regions | Verona - Brescia

Often regarded as an industrial city, an economic powerhouse, and a pallid younger sibling to Milan, Brescia is often passed through, but seldom stopped in, which is a shame – the city has an unexpectedly attractive centre, as well as some excellent restaurants. Its celebrated fascist architecture is an obvious highlight, particularly in piazza della Vittoria, but there are also plenty of Renaissance and medieval elements, as well as Roman remains just to the east of the city centre on and nearby the site of the forum in piazza del Foro. The focal point of the city is also its most beautiful site: piazza della Loggia has the 15th-century Palazzo della Loggia dominating one end of it, as well as Venetian loggias and an attractive 24-hour clock. Just to the east of here, piazza Paolo VI boasts two cathedrals side by side as well as the Broletto, one of the city’s oldest buildings, incorporating a clock tower.

Sights

The heart of the city is the piazza della Loggia, in turn dominated by the Palazzo della Loggia itself. Now used as the town hall, the palace, with an upper part designed by Sansovino with consultations from Palladio, was completed in 1570, 78 years after the laying of the foundation stone. The massive and distinctive rectangular cupola, made of sheets of lead, was added in 1908, following the original 16th-century design. The original roof was destroyed in a fire in 1575 which also destroyed many works of art, including some by Titian. The Salone Vanvitelli, at the top of the palace's grand 1902 staircase, is used for temporary exhibitions and is open to the public. On the south side of the square, between two 15th-century buildings that once housed pawnbrokers, is an attractive Venetian-style loggia. In the building now used as the tourist information office the town council decided in 1480 to set into the walls pieces of Roman inscriptions in stone. They are still there today. The eastern side of the piazza has a beautifully ornate clock tower with a 24-hour clock made in the mid 16th century. Via Cesare Beccaria leads under the central arch under the clock to piazza Paolo VI.

Piazza Paolo VI has too many parked cars to be considered beautiful, but it has three notable buildings: the Rotonda (also known as the Duomo Vecchio, the old cathedral), the Duomo Nuovo, and the Broletto. The Rotonda (Tue-Fri 0900-1200, 1500-1900, Sat-Sun 0900-1200, 1500-1800), built at the end of the 11th century, has a surprisingly large, circular interior with an ambulatory and a large, frescoed cupola. The Duomo Nuovo (T 030 42714, Mon-Sat 0730-1200, 1600-1930, Sun 0800-1300, 1600-1930), is much more austere by comparison. Construction of it started in 1604 but it was not completed until 1825. The 80-m high cupola is the third highest in Italy, but other than the scale of the place there is little to see. The Broletto is a composite of various buildings, including a 12th- or 13th-century tower. Centre of political life when Brescia was a city state, it still houses offices of the council, as well as the police station.

via del Castello. Daily 0800-2000. Free.

Populated since prehistoric times, the hill of Colle Cidneo, now dominated by Brescia's castle, rises steeply above the old centre of the city. There are good views north towards the Alps and south down over the Po plain, though much of the old city is obscured by trees. The castle itself has been reinforced on many occasions since its inception in the 13th century. The Mirabella Tower and the Visconti keep are from the 14th century, whereas the entrance, complete with a drawbridge, is from the 16th century. Inside there is a rather plain garden and two small museums of artefacts and arms. There are two routes up to the top of the castle, a winding circuitous route from piazza del Foro to the east, or a more direct, steeper route from piazza Paolo VI.

piazza del Foro.

Brescia's Roman remains are dishevelled and poorly looked after. The Capitolium temple, discovered in 1823, was partially rebuilt and sits in a closed area at the north of piazza del Foro. The Teatro Romano just to the east is, after Verona's, the second largest Roman theatre in Northern Italy. Half buried under a mix of earth, weeds, corrugated iron, rusting scaffolding and cement mixers, it would once have held around 15,000 spectators.

via dei Musei 81B, T 030 2977834, http://www.asm.brescia.it/musei Jun-Sep 1000-1800, Oct-May 0930-1730. E8.

The ex-monastery of Santa Giulia, founded in 753 AD by Longobard king Desiderio, holds Brescia's city museum and also has a large grassy Renaissance cloister. Museum highlights are a jewel-encrusted cross beloning to Desiderio himself, a finely carved 4th-century lipsanoteca (a box for holding relics) and various Roman artefacts and statues, many found in the excavations of the city's Roman temple and theatre.

The stark, modern grandiosity of the fascist-era architecture of piazza della Vittoria contrasts completely with neighbouring piazza della Loggia. Designed by Marcello Piacentini, the piazza was inaugurated in 1932, after the old buildings which had stood here previously had been knocked down. The post office dominates, and shiny white marble loggias echo their more antique counterparts.

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