Brescia and Santa Giulia

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Longobards In Italy, Places Of Power, Inscribed 2011), Whose Brescia Component Is The Monastic Complex Of San Salvatore Santa Giulia Founded In 753 Beside The Roman Forum · Brescia, Lombardy

A working industrial city in Lombardy that nobody visits, sitting on top of the best preserved Roman public complex in northern Italy and a monastery founded by the last Lombard king. The two run into each other: the Capitolium and the Roman theatre stand open in the middle of the streets, and next door the convent of Santa Giulia has been turned into a museum you walk through chronologically, from Roman houses with their mosaic floors still in place, up through Lombard goldwork, into frescoed nuns' choirs. In it are two things worth the trip on their own: a gilded bronze Winged Victory of the first century, found buried in the Capitolium in 1826, and the Cross of Desiderius, a processional cross studded with about two hundred antique gems including a painted Roman portrait of a mother and two children. Brescia was a Capital of Culture in 2023 and it is still almost empty, which is the whole opportunity: a first-rank collection with no queue anywhere in it.

Via dei Musei 81b, Brescia, Lombardy, 25121, Italy

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The structure: Santa Giulia opens Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays, with a last admission before closing and shorter winter hours. The Capitolium and the Roman theatre keep the same days on the combined ticket. THE NATIONAL FREE FIRST SUNDAY DOES NOT APPLY - these are municipal museums. Both cathedrals open daily and free with a midday interval. The castle grounds are open daylight hours. The metro runs a standard urban service. Confirm before travelling.

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