Brescia. The castle, the old cathedral, a museum and more.

Brescia is a town located at the foot of the Alps and between two lakes; lake Garda and lake Iseo. It is not far from Milan and from Bergamo.

This town isn' t as popular as other places in Italy, but here you can find several interesting things to see; a large museum, a castle and lots of churches.

Brescia has a good bus system and a convenient metro.

Brescia has two cathedrals. The Duomo Nuovo (the new cathedral) and the Duomo Vecchio (the old one).

The new cathedral was built between 1604 and 1825 on the site of another church.

The old cathedral is a circular Romanesque building constructed at the end of the XI century over the ruins of a previous basilica. It was enlarged through the centuries.

The old cathedral has several frescoes of various eras.

The castle is a large fortress situated on the top of the Cidneo hill. It was built in the 1200 on a previous site. It was enlarged in the 1400 and finished in 1500.

It is worth to climb to the castle, just to enjoy some great landscapes over Brescia.

After the visit to the castle I decided to visit Santa Giulia museum. There is not a restaurant inside, so I had something to eat at the Caffè Vecchia Piazza; a small cafe at piazza Tebaldo Brusato n. 33. It is not far from the museum.

Santa Giulia museum is a complex made of three churches, three cloisters and an archaeological area.

The churches here are; Santa Maria in Solario church; a XII chapel; Saint Giulia and Saint Salvatore churches. The museum has items from the prehistoric era to 1800. Santa Giulia museum was declared UNESCO site some years ago.

The Desiderius' cross is one of the highlight of the museum. It is decorated with jewels, cameos and painted glass. It dates to the IX century.

This is a reliquary made of ivory; it is called lipsanoteca. It is decorated with scenes of the Old and the New Testament. You can find both the Desiderius' cross and the lipsanoteca on the upper floor of Santa Maria in Solario church.

There are lots of Roman artefacts inside this museum.

In this picture you see a gilded bronze head of a Roman emperor.

You can se what remains of a couple of Roman houses at the basement of the museum.

My favourite part of this museum is the Coro delle Monache (the nun' s choir). This is a colourful room where the nuns used to pray. Its walls are almost entirely covered with frescoes.

The nun' s choir was built in the second half of the 1400. Its frescoes date to the 1500.

I could have stayed for a very long time inside the nun' s choir!

Saint Salvatore basilica dates to the VII century. Here, the frescoes are not in good conditions, except these you can see in this picture.

Here you see a close up of these frescoes.

Well,,,to be continued...