If you'd like to visit a friendly place with many happy people, come to Brescia in northern Italy. Here you will enjoy the luxury of visiting a beautiful city that is not crowded with tourists, but is more of a local kind of place with lots of lively energy.
Brescia is in the region of Lombardy and offers the best of Italy with several beautiful piazzas, of course, and ancient historic sites, including a medieval castle, the citadel up on the hill. They have Art Nouveau architecture and ancient Roman buildings, and you can walk into a temple that's 2000 years old. It is worth staying in Brescia for two days because you will find so much to see.
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The plague of overtourism, which has hit so many famous cities, has not impacted places like Brescia, slightly off the beaten track, making it a genuine, local experience. It does not get overrun, so it retains an authentic character. Brescia has many wonderful attractions, so it does get about 1.5 million annual visitors, many on a brief day trip from Lake Garda.
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Brescia is just 36 minutes away from Milan by train and only 30 minutes from those two popular lakes, Garda and Iseo. Venice is nearly two hours from Brescia by train. Those other places are more famous, which makes Brescia a special place to discover. Many other fine cities in the north of Italy worth visiting are also not overcrowded, as seen in this website.
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This piazza is a good place to begin your visit, surrounded by cathedrals and cafes. Named after Pope Paul VI, who was born near Brescia, it has two cathedrals, a new one, begun in 1604, in the Baroque style, with magnificent arches and dome, and next to it, the old cathedral, dating back to the 11th century in the Romanesque style. Called Duomo Vecchio, this ancient church is one of Brescia's most significant historical and architectural landmarks, also known as La Rotunda, due to its circular layout. Twelve ancient marble columns support the medieval crypt of San Filastrio. Over the centuries, elements of Gothic architecture and the Renaissance were added.
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The wonderful quality of life in the streets in Brescia is even more interesting than the architectural history for many visitors, such as along Via Maretto. It's a fine example of a pedestrian lane that also allows some cars in what's called a Limited Traffic Zone, which preserves the historic charm and makes it pedestrian-friendly while allowing partial vehicle access.
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Some parts of Via Maretto are exclusively for pedestrians, bicycles and sidewalk cafes -- no cars allowed, making this a popular place where the shops do very well. A few years ago it was a normal street for automobiles and then it was transformed into this ideal pedestrian area.
The most popular and lively place in Brescia is Corso Zanardelli, which has been one of the main streets of town for many centuries. Now, this wide promenade filled with pedestrians is like the outdoor living room of the city. It provides street theater and music at its best, the ideal place in town for people-watching, strolling, relaxing, shopping, getting a bite, or having a drink. Just hang out here; you will love it.
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There are three main piazzas in the city, each quite wonderful, but curiously, the Corso is not considered a piazza. It's a street, but this is the major pedestrian hub of the city, filled with daily life and people of all ages. Teatro Grande is one of the great buildings along the Corso, a prestigious venue with a rich calendar of events, first opened in 1664. The double porticoes out front date to about the same period. They provide shelter for pedestrians and alcoves for shops and cafes.
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The Corso has been an important street since the Middle Ages, when it ran along the fortified city walls. Then, it became a wine market, a workshop for stonecutters, and a hospital location. Now, it's the most important street in the city and one of the great pedestrian areas of Italy, busy throughout the day and right on into the night.
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At the end of Corso Zanardelli, the street changes name to Corso Palestro, and is slightly narrower, continuing the route dating back to the Middle Ages. It continues for several more blocks, with more outdoor cafes and lined with shops. They've done a fine job providing attractive pavement that's smooth and safe to walk on.
Around the corner, you get to the Piazza del Mercato, which had been a market square dating back to the late 15th century, with a former palace on the west side, which is now part of the University of Brescia, as are several of these other buildings on the market square. The university has about 17,000 students in a city with a population of about 200,000.
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From there, walk along another pedestrian lane with a portico covering the sidewalk on our way to another piazza.
This picturesque piazza was built in the 15th century in Renaissance style as a central public space for gatherings and government. The palazzo dates from 1492, built to house the city's municipal offices, which it still does today, partly designed by Palladio and San Sorvino.
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The cafes uphold that Italian tradition of free snacks with your drink, typically an afternoon spritz. A sculptural monument to Bella Italia is a tribute to the 1849 rebellion against the Austrian occupation that led to Italian independence. The Torre dell'Orologio clock tower has an enormous dial that marks the hours from 1 to 24. The Renaissance arcades, which surround the square, provide a picturesque setting.
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Evening in Piazza della Loggia is a delightful time to enjoy the twilight atmosphere, with soft lighting on historic buildings around you and excellent outdoor restaurants. Here too, nearly all the people are locals out to enjoy that evening stroll the passeggiata.
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A little street at the end of the piazza leads to the best party in town, every Saturday afternoon and into the evening, where young locals gather for conversation, fun and drinks. You'll find that they are very friendly and happy to say hello.
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From one piazza to another -- walk two blocks to Piazza della Vittoria, another of the most significant plazas in town. This piazza is much more modern than the places we've seen. It was built between 1927 and 1932, in the Art Deco style, although some call it fascist architecture, because Mussolini ordered the demolition of a large part of the historic center of town to create the plaza. This did produce a broad open piazza in what had been a rather congested neighborhood, surrounded as usual by shops and restaurants. The post office features a two-color striped facade.
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There are some landmark buildings around the piazza, including Italy's first skyscraper, Ina Tower, which is 57 meters high and opened in 1932. Significant renovations took place in 2013, including new fountains, pavement, and enhancement of the pedestrian area. The open market on Saturday morning, sells mostly inexpensive clothing. A grocery store on the piazza has a pizza counter and other kinds of takeaway, ready-to-eat foods, and other typical items. Various exciting activities, events, demonstrations, and other happenings frequently occur on the piazza. The reflecting fountain is quite impressive.
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In the evening, things calm down a little bit in the piazza and the restaurants come to life. I especially enjoyed Signorvino, a wine bar, wine store and high-quality restaurant, with 20 of them throughout Italy. They are very successful because of good prices, extensive menu, delicious food, and friendly service, offering simple and traditional Italian cuisine. You’ll find people enjoying their evening stroll on the piazza at night.
You'll want to visit the fortress on top of the hill, called the Citadel. Most people walk to it uphill, or you could take a taxi right to the cafe terrace in front of the entrance.
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This hilltop has been a fortress since the ancient Romans' days. Over the centuries, it has expanded tremendously, evolving into a tremendous castle. It now includes several museums and terraces with spectacular views across the city.
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There is no charge to come through the gates and into the grounds of the Citadel. You are welcome to walk around throughout the property, which is very expensive as you can see in the map. Enter through the front gate and explore the entire area. There are a couple of small museums, you could pay if you want to go in them, but otherwise just skip it and walk around on the grounds.
One museum you might want to consider paying for is the Armor Museum, with a fine collection of weapons, antique arms and armor representing Brescia's long history of manufacturing military weapons.
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The spectacular view from the hilltop is one of the main reasons why people come up to the Citadel, just to look out, away from the fortress into the town down below. From this angle you can see how massive the cathedral is, with its dome reaching 270-feet high. Perhaps enjoy a light refreshment as you exit the castle and walk back on down the hill.
It's only 200 meters to get back into the town, arriving at a small piazza with a sidewalk jazz band. You'll often find music in the streets of Brescia.
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Museum Street runs alongside that piazza named after Tito Speri, a hero in Italy's fight for independence in the mid-19th century. The other main piazzas are nearby in this central location. The neighborhood has narrow lanes through the old buildings, and a restaurant seems to pop up on every little piazza.
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Around the corner, we reach the internal courtyard of the Broletto, one of the most important buildings in the city's administrative history. The tower and government offices were first built in the 12th century. The original tower, standing 54 meters tall, is still intact.
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The courtyard is always open free to the public, where people can celebrate weddings standing next to a 17th-century fountain. The courtyard is so open that it functions like a street, providing a shortcut to get from one block to another.
Continue along Museum Street in the direction of the Roman archeological site dating back 2000 years. It's an ancient temple commissioned by Emperor Vespasian in the year 73. It's called the Capitoline Temple, or in Latin, the Capitolium, one of Brescia's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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The other important ancient Roman structure was the theater, built during the Augustan period about 2000 years ago, with a stage and semi-circular seating area. These structures were part of the religious and political center of the ancient city they called Brixia, a significant city on an ancient Roman trade route, which later evolved into modern Brescia.
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More of this Roman history is on display at Santa Giulia Museum, just 300 meters away. This had been a church and Benedictine nunnery, which had many buildings, including cloisters, chapels, residences, and offices. Now it's a huge museum complex with 14,000 square meters, or 150,000 square feet of exhibit space.
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One dramatic exhibit features two Roman houses excavated in their original location here, with mosaic floors and frescoed walls dating to the first century, found beneath the existing buildings. The museum showcases a large collection of Roman artifacts, including sculptures, mosaics, and pottery, and offers a chance to learn about the Roman Empire.
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A main focus of the exhibit is the eighth-century Basilica of San Salvatore which features polychrome marble columns and elaborate stucco decorations, one of the finest examples of the Longobard religious architecture. The Longobards were a Germanic tribe that settled in Brescia in the mid-sixth century. The city flourished under their rule, especially as seen in this complex of San Salvatore and Santa Giulia, created in the middle of the eighth century.
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A majestic painted ceiling hovers above the Oratory of Santa Maria in Solario. Its colorful frescoes of saints surround it, and the Cross of Desiderius in the center is adorned with 212 gemstones.
When finished with this museum complex there is a fine art museum you want to consider, Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, about 800 meters away.
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Here, in beautiful exhibition rooms, you can admire the works of Titian, Raphael, and the famous local artist Moretto. From there, it's a nice walk back into the center of town.
That completes our visit to Brescia, but I want to show you a little bit about the hotel where I stayed. Hotel Vittoria is a deluxe property with five stars, right on Piazza della Vittoria. It offers the perfect central location, and is an affordable luxury because hotel prices in Brescia are much more reasonable than in the major Italian cities.
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They serve an extensive breakfast buffet in a very comfortable dining room, with easy access to the adjacent lobby lounge. A Murano chandelier accents the Art Nouveau architecture. They also have a rooftop dining terrace with a view of the Cathedral
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Piazza della Vittoria has a metro station, providing easy transportation over to the main train station for your departure. Brescia is the smallest city with an underground metro. Now, they are complementing it with a new surface tram system.
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Crenelated towers make the train station look like a castle, but this is where you catch your train out of here. Travelling by train is a great way to explore Italy. It's best to avoid rush hour, so you'll have lots of space, and there is usually lovely scenery out the window as you continue to your next destination in Northern Italy.
Watch the same video on the dedicated video page.
