Tuesday May 23, 2023
We wake up and have breakfast before walking to the train station. Today we are going to Brescia. Brescia has Celtic roots dating back to 1200 B.C. but it grew into an important trade and manufacturing center when it became a Roman colony in 89 B.C. At that time the heart of Brescia was the Capitolium, a Hugh temple built by Emporer Vespasiano, and its remains still stands in the center of town. After the Roman’s, Brescia was under the control of several rulers including the Lombards and Venetians. The cities uprising against the decision to hand it over to Austria in 1848 earned it the nickname of Italys Lioness.
We arrive on time and make the walk to our hotel. Locanda Della Mercanzie is in a prime location just off several piazzas and in the center of the old town. We were just expecting to drop our bags but to our surprise the room is ready so we get to check in. This allows us to settle in and get our bearings on this afternoons itinerary. First up, we walk to the Tourist Information Office and get a map and also buy a Brescia card that will be good for 48 hours from the first use for several museums and public transportation. We then go to have lunch at La Vinieria. We get polpo as an appetizer which is roasted octopus. Carol gets the casoncelli pasta and I go out on a limb and get smoked sturgeon macaroni. The octopus is great but Carol does not like the smoked sturgeon. It is not a very tender fish so not what I was expecting either. Live and learn.
After lunch we wander a little through town until it is time to activate our card. We are trying to time it so we can use it until 1330 on Thursday. We start out with art at the Pinocoteca Tosio Martinego Art Gallery. There are over 480 works of art from artists dating from 1200 to 1800, including Raphael, Canova, and Hayez. They also have collections of medals, ivories, and goldsmiths as well as some Chinese and Japanese paintings. One interesting item I see is a marriage casket carved from bone with courtly scenes circa 136. Makes me wonder if it is a place to put your spouse after you kill them.
We see some paintings by Raphael, a gold creature from the black lagoon, and some beautiful carved ivory. There is a sculpture of Ganymede with Jupiters Eagle from 1814 by Berthel Thorvaldsen, whose workshop we had visited when we were in Copenhagen. Another sculpture is the bust of Eleanora D’Este, curly locks and all, done by one of our favorite sculptors, Canova. There are also a couple of paintings of little people, with interesting imagery. One has a Beatle grabbing a person while others try to save him. Another has a person in the lower corner of the painting mooning you or possibly worse. You have been warned if you look at the pictures. spend over an hour in this well laid out museum that does not overwhelm you with thousands of paintings.
From the art museum, we head over to a square with not one, but two cathedrals. They are eloquently called the Old Cathedral and the New Cathedral. We start with the Old Cathedarl which is, well, older. The Old Cathedral is a round stone building which was built in 1100. It was built in place of the paleohristian Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which was destroyed by fire in 1097. It is the largest circular Romanesque Temple ever built. Inside, there are mosaics of the early Christian Basilica that stood here, the remains of a thermal system, and the sarcophagus of Bishop Bernardo Maggiore, made of red Veronese marble in 1308.
The New Cathedral is next. New is relative, as construction began in 1604 and took over 200 years to complete in 1825. It has a baroque marble facade and the third highest dome in Italy (80 meters, Pavia was third largest) behind of course Rome and Florence. Inside is a wooden crucifix from the 1400s, a painting by Tiepolo from 1749, and a cool stone carved Bishops Seat.
Next door is the Diocesan Museum so we go and explore it. It has some beautiful religious artwork. We especially like the older stuff from the 13th and 14th century’s. It is amazing how the colors are still vivid even though many pieces were done on wood. They painted round discs on the heads of the saints and Mary and Jesus. One painting of the Last Supper, they all have the halos except Judas who can be seen clutching the bag of money he was paid to betray Jesus. We enjoy it and that finishes our sightseeing for today. We return to our apartment to figure out what we want to do for dinner as we ate a full lunch today.
Decision made, we go to the store to pick up some items for a light dinner. We find some Nduja, the hot salami paste we had on our sandwiches in Perugia, and buy some Piadinas to make our own light sandwich wraps. Carol also goes shopping fro some toiletry and other items that we are running low on. Our after dinner passiegetta leads us past a gelato place and we , (read as Carol), can not pass it by. It is really good gelato and the people are nice. We will be back. So far we are liking this city and its offerings.
Expenses Train from Pavia to Brescia 19.20E Brescia Card 46E Lunch at La Vineria 50E polpo, casoncelli, smoked sturgeon mascherone, water Dinner from Pam 14.25E Beer Wine Nduja Piadina Items from Tigota 15.26E Gelato from Mantecaia Gelateria 5.80E Locanda Della Mercanzie 105E Walked 8.3 Miles
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