Chiesa di Santa Maria della Carità

The Chiesa di Santa Maria della Carità or the church of the Buon Pastore is a Baroque-style Roman Catholic church. Construction of the original church started in 1481. A wealthy man – Laura Gambara – erected the church, a monastery, and a convent to shelter fallen women or prostitutes. In 1640 construction of a new church begun. The new church is also known as Church of the Good Shepherd. It was ruled until 1998 by the adjacent monastery with the same name. If you look at the outside you would never imagine what a remarkable baroque overload awaits you inside.

At the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Carità

The two columns at the door are from the ancient Basilica of San Pietro de Dom that was demolished in 1603 to make space for the new Duomo

Fascinating paintings in this church

The frescoed dome

Maria with child

Little side altar

Hmmm

Where you usually find Jesus – there is Maria in this church

The baby gets his own little place

Looking at you!

The high altar

The high altar with the reproduction of the Holy House

This is a fantastic example of a Baroque-style church

The bible awaits you

There is a lot to see in this church

A perfect example of false architecture. It does look quite good

Fresco of the vault with false architecture

The frescoed dome

Santi Sebastiano, Antonio and Rocco from Francesco Paglia

The left altar with the altarpiece by Antonio Gandino

Angels and the bird on top

This lady with a scull is quite small at the bottom of it. Check out the marbel works

The floor – as amazing as the rest of the church

Tempio Capitolino

The Tempio Capitolino or the Capitolium is an old Roman temple. It stands next to the Roman theater and the remains of the city forum. This is the most important complex of ruins and remains of Roman public buildings in northern Italy. The construction has begun in 73 AD and it is dedicated to Cesar Vespasiano.

At the Tempio Capitolino

Chiesa di San Zeno al Foro

The white stones are the original ones

The Roman theater

The theater could host about 15,000 people

Nice pipe work at the Via Giovanni Piamarta

Down the Vicolo San Clemente

Mickey – still happy

Lots of faces

Looking down Via Carlo Cattaneo

Fountain at the Piauuetta Labus

Looking down Via Agostino Gallo

At the corner of Via Agostino Gallo and Via Carlo Cattaneo

Square version

Almost at the end of Via Agostino Gallo

Time to walk back to the Hotel

Look at this place – how nice is this?

Chiesa di Sant Agata

Tight security at the Via Dante

Santa Maria della Pace

Torre della Pallata

Torre della Pallata

Fountain at the Torre della Pallata

Everything on sale

Via delle Battagelie

Piazzale Guiseppe Garibaldi

Ohhhhh – time to walk back to the hotel!

The Duomo Vecchio

The Duomo Vecchio stands next to the New Cathedral of Brescia. Officially it is called the Winter Co-Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. Or the Old Cathedral or La Rotonda because of its round setting. And the adjacent main cathedral next to it is known as the Summer Cathedral.
Confusing? A bit! There are only documents that state that the cathedral was build in the 11th century on a basilica layout style church. As far as Romanesque round churches in Italy go this is one of the most important ones.

When you enter the church you see a sarcophagus and behind it the big round space with parts of the roof. What looks quite small from the outside is really big if you see it from the inside.

The sarcophagus of Bishop Berardo Maggi (1308) made of red marble.

The audience of Santa Maria

One of the paintings

Tumb of Balduino Lambertini

Hmmm – looks like some horses

Cappella delle Sante Croci or the Chapel of the Holy Crosses

If you see the outside you would not expect this

A lot of gold

Details!

Not as nice but still..

King Mechisedec offers bread and wine to Abraham from Moretto

Translation of the bodies of Saint Dominator, Saint Paul and Saint Anastastius from Francesco Maffei

This one is different

Almost super modern the way they have the cross

You have to look up in this church

More to see up here

Nice paintings!

Hanging with the angels

Looks different when you are there

Up there is the entrance

Tumb of Domenico de Domenici

Another altar

Palazzo Broletto

The Broletto Palace was once the medieval home of the reigning lords of the city. Now it is the home of the provincial administration. It is located between Via Mazzini and Piazza Paolo VI in Brescia. The first wood building on this place dates back to 1187. Later it got rebuild in stone and the whole thing got bigger.

The Torre del Pegol or tower of the people or tower of the market is about 54 meters high. It was build in the 11th century.

The West Gate or Porta Orientale from the Piazza Paolo VI. The carved template above the door states the Venetian rule and dates back to the 1790s.

Detail of the facade

The portico with loggia from 1626. I wonder if the writing that is gone is not from arround 1937?

Looking towards the tower you can see the roof of the New Cathedral

Up to the Castello

We passed the Piazza Speri to walk up to the Castello.

The Monument to Tito Speri at Brescia. It was formally inaugurated on its original site at the Piazza Speri in Brescia on 1 September 1888. He was the head of the revolt against the Austrian puppet state – the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia in the so-called Ten Days of Brescia. That is how long it took the Austrian troops to get the city back.

Right at the entrance! Really?

The Castle of Brescia is also known as Falcone d’Italia (“Falcon of Italy”) was built between the 13th and the 16th century. It is one of the largest castles in Italy. It is located on top of the Cidneo Hill at the northeast side of the town.

Over the entrance – The Lion of Venice

Part of the Castello

One of the towers

The bridge to the inner ring

Up to the gardens

And back down again

On the way down towards the city

Door bells at the Constrada Sant Urbano

Piazza della Loggia

We walked over the Piazza Bell'Italia that is connected to the Piazza della Loggia. The Piazza della Loggia was designed in the middle of the Renaissance period. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the real construction began. The buildings at the square are all in a quite modest Venetian style.

On the Piazza Bell'Italia

View from the clocktower towards the Bell'Italia

Monument to the Bella Italia from Giovanni Battista Lombardi, erected in in 1864. It is officially a monument to the fallen of the Ten Days of Brescia. At this place was a Venetian column before with the lion of St. Mark on top that got demolished by the revolutionaries in 1797. The original column was erected in 1455. The public executions in Brescia were held for centuries at its base.

There are 4 plates on the sides. This one shows the shooting of captured insurgents of the Ten Days of Brescia

The arcades placed along the east side of the square

The clock tower was built between 1540 and 1550. The clock has two different quadrants which mark the hours, the lunar phases and the zodiacal signs.
On the right you see a memorial for the 8 people that got killed and the 102 wounded ones from the terror attack of May 28, 1974.

On the upper part there are two rods and a bell. Locals called the two man “Macc de le ure” now they are better know as “Tone and Batista”.

The side facing the Piazza della Loggia has an astronomical quadrant and the tympanum painted by Gian Giacomo Lamberti in 1547

Fountain of the dolphins

The Piazza della Loggia with the Town Hall at the end

The Palazzo della Loggia

Monte di Pietà

Entrance of the Palazzo della Loggia

This is what you see if you walk out that door

Look up – he looks down at you!

When you step out to the square you see this

Before the electric bell

Christian painting all over the place

In case you have no clue where you are

Good Morning Brescia

One of the reasons I choose Villa Noce was the Breakfast mentioned in the reviews. If you went to Italy yourself you know what awaits you in a typical local hotel that usually has Italian customers only. Coffee and a few sweets and that is that. A pleasant surprise waited at the main building at the hotel Villa Noce.

Breakfast at Villa Noce – a lot of options for Italy

After breakfast, we walked into town. Which gives you another feeling of the place. Our hotel was in a little village outside Brescia. At the end of the street were the bus stop and this nice church.

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Noce

We walked along some green and a small commercial zone with supermarkets, cinemas and a restaurant. Crossed the highway and arrived in the suburbs. We zigzagged towards the beginning of the old part of town.

Brescia

Chiese delle suore delle Poverelle

Ring my Bell! At Via Fratelli Bronzetti

Parrocchia Santi Nazaro E Celso

If you only walk the streets you will never find out what wonders hide behind the closed doors!

Very impressive from the outside as well!

You have to wait till a car comes out or somebody leaves and the main gates opens for a few seconds.

Saint Maria of Miracles or Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli

Strange enough most of the churches we passed today were closed. This was the first one that was open and it was a very nice one. The plague killed most of the inhabitants of Brescia between 1480 and 1484. There were rumors that a fresco depicting the Madonna and Child on a house had developed miraculous powers. On the wave of popular religious fervor, the Catholic church purchased the house in 1486. Two years later, the construction of the church began. Allied bombing destroyed everything but the façade of the church in the 2nd World War. The people knew what a jewel the façade was and had built a big and strong wood construction to protect it. And it worked!

Saint Maria of Miracles or Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli

Detail of the façade: St. Joseph with child

Could use some restauration

The famous fresco of the Madonna and Child behind the altar

A Roman soldier and Jesus

Madonna and Child

The cylindrical anterior dome was designed by Ludovico Beretta

There are a lot of painting in this small church

More of the dome

The Black Madonna

So much love – till the heart explodes

If you look at the picture on the left from the good old times and how they dress now – picture on the right

Nice frame!

This is such a small church but there is so much to see

Details everywhere

That must be red wine!

Mermaids!!

More of them

Piazza della Vittoria

Further, one we passed the Piazza della Vittoria. The square was build in 1932 and to make space for it they killed a lot of nice old buildings. Some dated back all the way to the 15th century. In 1927 the Brescia administrators started a process to change the urban face. This was supported all the way up to Benito Mussolini himself. You find a lot of places in Italy that were built at this time.

That is the way to move your kid!

The old Post Office

Torrione INA or Torrione
Completed in 1932 this was the first skyscraper in Italy with 57,25 Meter. At the time it was the tallest reinforced concrete skyscraper in Europe. INA Insurance had its offices in the tower so that some refered to it as Torre delle Assicurazioni. It was designed by Marcello Piacentini.

The “Tower of the Revolution”, in the past there was also a bas-relief depicting Mussolini on horseback

Looking down to the Piazza Paolo VI. You can see the Cathedral – and this is where we go next.

Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta or The Duomo Nuovo

The construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta began in 1604. At the site was the 5th-6th-century basilica of San Pietro de Dom. The church was completed in the nineteenth century. The dome was completed in 1825. With its 80 meters, it is one of the highest in Italy.

Right in the middle of the dome. Only a few steps after entering the building.

Looking towards the rear

Looking straight down from the door

After we walked down the aisle towards the main altar

The Presbytery and the Chancel. On the side of the altar are Saint Filastrio (on the left) and Saint Gaudenzio (on the right) made by Antonio Calegari in 1739.

Painting behind the main altar – Assumption of the Vergin Mary from Giacomo Zoboli

Quite a scary chair

Could be the baptismal font but my guess is that it the Stoups that contains the holy water

Bread of the poor

Hmm – that guy is dead and nobody is happy. But why Aladdin's lamp?

There you go! Nippels and Breast feeding! In the church! Yes!

Crocifisso del Duomo Nuovo
The work of by Francesco Giolfino from 1502. It is at the altar of the Crucifix which is the first on the right. Originally the crucifix was in the old church and they simply moved it here. On the right, you can see the Dormitio Virginis – different style – and yes it is the German School.

The Blessed Sacrament chapel. Designed by Rodolfo Vantini and completed in 1846. The altarpiece depicts the Preaching of Jesus to the people by Michelangelo Grigoletti. It was painted in 1844. The two statues are Faith (on the left) and Hope (on the right).

Statue of Pope Paul VI. Made by Raffaele Scorzelli in 1975. The Pope is portrayed down on his knees in the doorway of the Holy Door. He holds the pastoral Cross in his arms that is the only vertical element which raises above everything. Over the monument, you see paintings by Girolamo Romanino. They were moved here from the Cathedral of Saint Mary de Dom. Painted between 1539 and 1541: they depict the Birth, the Marriage and the Visit to Saint Elizabeth of the Vergin Mary.

Do you remember old Paul?

The Altar of Nicola da Tolentino. It was commisioned in 1630 while the plague raged through the town. Finally, in 1679 the altarpiece was painted by he Milanese Giuseppe Nuvolone. It depicts Saint Nicola da Tolentino with Saints Faustino and Giovita invoking for the miracle for the end of the plague in the town of Brescia through the medium of the Madonna.

Look at all tehm little angels!

This altar was the first one made in this style and it is the archetype of the Lombard side altars. Basically all of the altars in Northern Italy are made like this one.

Maria with child

A Guy with a Lion

Does this remind you of something?

The back altar of the right aisle. Decorated with sculptures by Antonio Calegari which represent the Meekness and Patience (on the side), the Penitence and Purity (above the tympanum). The altarpiece is the Guardian Angel painted by Luigi Basiletti.

Some artwork in front of The Ark of Saint Apollonius

Statue of Karolus Dominicus Ferrarius

Enough pictures for this post – there are more to come!