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CASTLE, CATHEDRALS, ART AND ARMOR
Brescia, Lombardy - Antique City

An ancient city-state of Lombardy northern Italy, Brescia was the home of the area's influential Dukes of Lombard and an important Roman era center. The name Brescia comes from an old word (Brixia) meaning “hill” from where the Castello Brescia overlooks the city and the central plane of Italy's busy industrial region between Verona and Milan. The center of Brescia is a collection of old town squares from different eras connected by narrow streets of cafes, upscale shops and night spots. The Piazza Del Loggia is the main old square in front of the Loggia city hall showing the influence of the Venitian rule. While the Piazza Vittoria is a monument to the neoclassical fascist era and where the city center’s main underground parking garage can be found and which hosts an Antiques Market under it’s columned arcades on the second Sunday of every month (except July and August).

Read reviews of Hotels in Brescia

Through a narrow street to the Piazza Paolo VI (Paul 6th) the trail of Brescia’s history can be clearly compared with its two cathedrals side by side. The round Romanesque era Duomo Vecchio, also known as Il Rotonda was built over the ruins of the Santa Maria Maggiore, an early Christian basilica from the end of the 11th century. At the entrance is the ornate tomb made of red Verona marble dedicated to the Bishop of Brescia in 1308. The Duomo Vecchio (Old Cathedral) holds the Treasure of the Holy Crosses and decorated with frescoes and paintings by Romanino and Alessandro Bonvicino, named "il Moretto" (see Castello Buonconsiglio) as part of the city museum complex which holds exhibitions of artists more recent artsist like Gauguin, Monet, Van Gogh, attracting tourists from all over Europe.

Standing right beside it is the late Renaissance period (1604) “New Cathedral” Santa Giulia in a style that echoes early Baroque, notable for its dome which is the third largest in Italy after St. Peter’s in Rome and Florence’s Santa Maria Novella. The city museum at the Santa Giulia Across the square is the Il Boletto the city’s older town hall first begun in the 12th century and expanded in the 14th and 16th. It is dominated by the Pegol tower, the oldest in the city.

The Castello di Brescia, a few minutes walk (uphill) from the city center is notably of similar romanesque construction with its round tower referred to as the Mirabella echoing the old cathedral in the city over which it looks. The castle is a citadel unto itself of fortified towers, courtyards, drawbridges and dungeons. Originally a Roman fortification and a watch tower defensive position in the Goth period in the dark ages, the present castle took its shape during the Visconti reign of the 1300’s and was later added to by the Venetians, the French and Austro-Hungarians who controlled central north Italy (see Castello d’Arco).

The castle houses the Museum of Ancient Weapons in the 14th century keep. One of the most important armor collections in Italy, it contains over 500 articles of armor suits, helmets, lances, swords and shields, many from Brescia's early local arms industry craftsmen displayed under original 14th century frescoes in many of its rooms and built on the foundation of an earlier Roman temple still visible.

Brescia is also the home to a popular Italian Football (Soccer) team and the historic Mille Miglia vintage auto race (see
1000 Miles To Rome And Back). Its museum is a few kilometers to the east of the old town center (see Mille Miglia Museum). The area around Brescia provides a number of golf courses and the lakes of Lombady, Garda (see Italy's Big Lake Playland) and Iseo (see Hotel Villa Kinzica). © Bargain Travel Europe

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