Points of interest

Section dedicated to describing the tourist attractions of the city of Brescia: museums, monumental buildings, palaces, squares, and churches.

Points of interest

Church of San Clemente

The church was completely restored between the end of the 16th century and 1471. In 1517 the Dominicans took possession of the monastery and gave it a magnificent appearance. In 1836 Rodolfo Vantini transformed the interior along neo-classical lines and added a large barrel vault.

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Points of interest

Church of San Giovanni Evangelista

The church was founded in the 4thcentury by San Gaudenzio, Bishop of Brescia, rebuilt between 1440 and 1447 and then altered in the 17thcentury. The facade with its severe 15thcentury lines has a stone doorway with an arch resting on two early 16thcentury columns. On each side of the doorway there are pointed arches taken from the tombs of the Maggi family in Paitone.

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Points of interest

Church of Sant'Afra in Sant'Eufemia

The church was completely reconstructed in the 18th century to the design of Domenico Carbone.

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Points of interest

Church of San Faustino in Riposo

The small entrance opens under the face of Porta Bruciata tower, in Via dei Musei. The name of the church was coined after a religious procession that took place at the beginning of the 9th century: it carried the relics of Faustino and Giovita saints – patrons of Brescia – and stopped here on its way towards San Faustino Maggiore.

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Points of interest

Pallata Tower

One of the city symbols, the tower was built in 1248 and is rated amongst the Middle Ages most important monuments.

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Points of interest

San Carlino Theatre

San Carlino theatre was originally a church of the SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini confraternity, and has now become an auditorium and conference venue for Brescia Provincial Administration. It was designed around 1750, as witnessed by a blueprint dated 1753, authorised and signed by the Vicar General Jacobo Soncini, six years before the first cornerstone was laid.

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Points of interest

The Castle

The ancient part of Brescia, Roman Brixia so-called since the first century BC because of the rocky, hilly ground on which it is built, is bounded to the north-east by Cidneo Hill (245m). Brich was the Celtic word meaning rocky summit, high places. And the hill with its wonderful view over the whole city, has represented the most important element in the town's history from the time of the first settlements in the Bronze age up until the eve of the XX century.

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Points of interest

National Museum of Photography

The Cinefotoclub National Museum of Photography (founded in 1953) preserves a rich heritage of vintage photographs and cinema memorabilia. Its 8,000 pieces tell the story of photography from 1826 to the digital era, and the history of movie making from amateurs to professionals.

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Points of interest

Santa Giulia Museum

The convent of San Salvatore, later named after Santa Giulia (915) was founded at the wish of King Desiderius and his wife Ansa in 753 AD, and built on a particularly rich archeological site (the remains of Roman domus have been found under the basilica of San Salvatore and in the kitchen garden of Santa Giulia. Considerable enlargement and reconstruction over the centuries produced a building constructed round three cloisters, as it is today.

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Points of interest

The Luigi Marzoli Arms Museum

In one of the oldest areas of the Castle, the Mastio Visconteo, a fine 14th-century structure and a significant monumental survival of the Cidneo Hill's defensive system, lies the Luigi Marzoli Arms Museum. Inaugurated in 1988 with a setup by Carlo Scarpa, it houses one of the richest European collections of ancient armor and weapons.

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Points of interest

Tosio Martinengo Art Gallery

A completely renovated Art Gallery welcomes a precious and selected art collection at the elegant venue of Palazzo Martinengo da Barco, featuring works by Raphael, Lorenzo Lotto, Ceruti, Canova, and Hayez, as well as Brescia Renaissance painters such as Savoldo, Romanino, and Moretto.

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Points of interest

Palazzo Martinengo

Palazzo Martinengo is an aristocratic building located on the crossing between Via Musei, an ancient Roman road, and Piazza del Foro, where the Martinengo Cesaresco family settled in the 16th century. The severe façades of the two main parts of the building towards Via Musei and Piazza del Foro were designed in the 17th century according to the typical style of the previous century, traces of which can be found on the inside

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Points of interest

Piazza della Loggia

It is one of the most beautiful squares in Brescia and was inaugurated in 1433. It is dominated by the magnificent Renaissance Palace of the Loggia, nowadays the town hall.

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Points of interest

Piazza della Vittoria

This grandiose square, designed by the Roman architect Marcello Piacentini and inaugurated in 1932, was built on the site of a dilapidated popular quarter which was demolished in order for the city centre to be cleaned up.

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Points of interest

Piazza Paolo VI (formerly Piazza del Duomo)

This square, which dates back to the Middle Ages, is the heart of the city; it contains important historical buildings which symbolize the city's concern with civil rights as well as its religious tradition. The palace of Broletto, which incorporates the municipal tower and the loggia delle grida, exteds along the eastern side as well as two cathedrals - the Duomo Nuovo (the New Cathedral) and the Duomo Vecchio (the Old Cathedral).

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Points of interest

Museum of the Risorgimento

Resulting from extensive historiographical and design work, the Museum of the Risorgimento in Brescia presents itself as a tangible testament to the Risorgimento phenomenon, not only as a crucial moment in Italian history but also as a significant European event. Paintings, sculptures, artifacts, and relics, carefully selected and arranged, narrate the complex story that led to the Unification of Italy, bringing the visitor closer to an era that shaped the national identity.

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Points of interest

Contemporary Art

Explore the historic centre of Brescia through an intriguing tour of contemporary artworks scattered throughout the city. They are all along accessible routes, carefully distributed among the streets, but always within sight.

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Points of interest

Palazzo Martinengo Colleoni di Malpaga

Martinengo Colleoni di Malpaga Palace Today the building is home to MO.CA, the centre for new cultures where cultural associations, exhibition areas and creative ateliers are based. Dating back to the 16th century, the palace was built at the behest of the Martinengo-Colleoni di Malpaga family, among the oldest and most distinguished in Bergamo. The branch of the family was born at the end of the 15th century, when brothers Gherardo, Gaspare and Jacopo Martinengo married the daughters of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni, assuming the joint name Martinengo Colleoni and inheriting their estates, gathered around the towns of Malpaga and Cavernago. At the end of the century, therefore, the family moved to Brescia, placing their residence on Piazzetta Sant'Alessandro, to the south, and building their first palace here, which was quite sober. Some time later, in the first half of the 18th century, the family, based on plans by Alfonso Torregiani, had its historic home restored, making it one of the most impressive Baroque palaces in the city. In 1787 the Martinengo family also commissioned architect Donegani to design the elegant fountain in the small Sant'Alessandro square, in harmony with the facade of the palace.

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Points of interest

C.AR.M.E. Centre for Multicultural and Ethnosocial Arts

The Art Association draws its name from Carmine, the popular city neighbourhood characterized by a strong multi-ethnicity, a crossroads of cultures, home to universities, schools and cultural and social associations, and a nighttime centre of youth and non-youth gatherings. C.AR.M.E. is concerned with the promotion and development of contemporary art – with particular attention to new trends – in synergy with the cultural, ethnic and social fabric of the neighbourhood itself and through a multi-disciplinary approach, with the creation of temporary exhibitions, artistic residencies, and artistic production projects in theatre, dance, cinema, visual arts, music and digital culture. It is based at the former Church of Saints Philip and James.

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Points of interest

MA.CO.F Centro della Fotografia Italiana

Housed inside MO.CA, the centre for new cultures in the baroque Palazzo Martinengo Colleoni in Malpaga (from whose acronym Ma.Co.F gets its name), it is a permanent exhibition that reconstructs the history of Italian photography in the second half of the 20th century. A journey through the "icons" of Italian photography and the stories of its major protagonists, but also a reasoned path through the evolution, interests and aesthetic and cultural choices of Italian photography.

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Points of interest

Street Art

In Brescia, street art works extend over a vast area outside the historic center, between Sanpolino, San Bartolomeo, Violino, and Lamarmora, easily reachable by public transportation and bike paths. A significant boost to the creation of murals and urban art has been given by Link, the urban art festival organized by the True Quality Association, and by MAUA, with 28 new augmented reality street art works. An open-air distributed museum to discover urban routes outside the center and the ordinary art circuits.

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Points of interest

Palazzo Martinengo Colleoni di Malpaga

Today the building is home to MO.CA, the centre for new cultures where cultural associations, exhibition areas and creative ateliers are based. Dating back to the 16th century, the palace was built at the behest of the Martinengo-Colleoni di Malpaga family, among the oldest and most distinguished in Bergamo. The branch of the family was born at the end of the 15th century, when brothers Gherardo, Gaspare and Jacopo Martinengo married the daughters of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni, assuming the joint name Martinengo Colleoni and inheriting their estates, gathered around the towns of Malpaga and Cavernago.

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