Brescia

Piazza della Loggia and the Clock Tower

Square · free entry · 45.53978, 10.22006

piazza della Loggia, 25121 Brescia

the square built at the wish of the Venetian governors between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: to the west the Palazzo della Loggia, begun in 1492, today the town hall; to the east the porticoes and the Torre dell'Orologio, the Clock Tower, of 1540-1550, with the astronomical clock by Paolo Gennari of Rezzato, which has a single hand, the twenty-four hours, the phases of the moon and the zodiac. At the top, since 1581, two copper automata strike the hours with a hammer: the people of Brescia call them the Macc de le ure, the madmen of the hours, and they repeat the strike after two minutes, so whoever missed it gets a second chance. In 1484 the Roman inscriptions found in the city were set at eye level into the walls of the old Monte di Pietà, on the south side: looking for the Latin letters is a game to play with children. Under the eastern porticoes a stele recalls the massacre of 28 May 1974, the neo-fascist bomb that killed eight people during an anti-fascist demonstration. On Saturday mornings there is a market in the square, and a passage under the tower leads to piazza Paolo VI in three minutes.

Opening hours the square is always open; the Palazzo della Loggia is the town hall · comune.brescia.it

Duomo Vecchio

Church · free entry · 45.53820, 10.22174

piazza Paolo VI, 25121 Brescia

the Old Cathedral, the winter cathedral, a Romanesque rotunda of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, among the most important round churches in Italy. You go in and down, because over the centuries the city around it has risen, and the floor has stayed lower than the square. Underneath is the crypt of San Filastrio, from the sixth century, rebuilt in the eighth, closed for centuries and reopened during the restoration of the late nineteenth century; in the floor the darker stones trace the outline of the older basilica, with mosaics of the fifth and sixth centuries. Inside are the marble sarcophagus of Berardo Maggi, the bishop who was the first lord of the city, the organ by Giangiacomo Antegnati of 1536 and canvases by Moretto and Romanino. The bell tower collapsed in 1708: it can only be seen in a painting inside the church, and finding it is a hunt to do with children. From December to Epiphany the rotunda hosts the nativity scenes. Half an hour is enough.

Opening hours every day 9:30-18:00, according to the Diocese; on Sundays there is Mass at 11:00, and visits are suspended during services · 331 2452479 · diocesi.brescia.it · parrocchiadellacattedrale@gmail.com

Duomo Nuovo and the Broletto

Church · free entry · 45.53862, 10.22196

piazza Paolo VI, 25121 Brescia

the white cathedral next to the rotunda, built from 1604 to 1825 in place of the basilica of San Pietro de Dom: more than two centuries, with a halt of almost forty years after the plague of 1630, so that whoever laid the first stone never saw the dome. The dome, finished in 1825 to a design by Luigi Cagnola, is 21 metres across, and from the floor to the top of the lantern it is about eighty metres. Inside are the monument to Paul VI, the pope from Brescia, by Raffaele Scorzelli, and the organ shutters by Romanino. To the left is the Broletto, the medieval town hall, with the Torre del Pegol and the loggia delle Grida, from which proclamations were read: today it houses the Province and the Prefecture, and inside you can only see the courtyard. About twenty minutes.

Opening hours Monday to Friday 7:00-18:45; Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 7:00-19:30, according to the Diocese · 331 2452479 · diocesi.brescia.it · parrocchiadellacattedrale@gmail.com

Brixia, the archaeological park of Roman Brescia

Museum · paid entry · 45.53960, 10.22565

via dei Musei 55, 25121 Brescia

the heart of the Roman city. The Capitolium was built by Vespasian in 73 AD, and his name can still be read on the pediment; a landslide from the hill buried it in the Middle Ages, and excavations brought it back to light from 1823. Beneath the temple is the Republican sanctuary of the first century BC, discovered in 1956: four halls with brightly coloured frescoes, and it is the surprise for children, who go down under one temple and find another. In the eastern cella stands the Winged Victory, the first century bronze found on the evening of 20 July 1826 already dismantled and hidden in a cavity in the wall, perhaps in ancient times, to save it from being melted down: after two years of restoration in Florence it came back here in December 2020, in a setting by Juan Navarro Baldeweg. The Roman theatre, the largest in northern Italy after the one in Verona, is closed for works in October 2026, with no reopening date, and can be seen from above. From the Capitolium the UNESCO Corridor, free, leads to Santa Giulia. An hour and a half; the museums' Geronimo Stilton game ends here, in front of the Victory, so it is best to start at Santa Giulia.

Opening hours from 1 October to 31 May Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, from 1 June to 30 September until 19:00; last entry 50 minutes before closing. Closed on Mondays, except public holidays. Opening on 25 December and 1 January is not published · only with the combined town museums ticket, 19 euros, 16 over 65, 12 under 26; free up to age 5 and from the third child up to age 18. The price list is valid until 22 August 2027 · 030 8174200 · bresciamusei.com · cup@bresciamusei.com

Santa Giulia Museum

Museum · paid entry · 45.53926, 10.22911

via dei Musei 81/b, 25121 Brescia

the city museum, inside the convent founded in 753 by Desiderius, who three years later would become king, the last of the Lombards: fourteen thousand square metres of galleries, from the Bronze Age to the nineteenth century. The basilica of San Salvatore is Lombard, with its crypt and frescoes; in the oratory of Santa Maria in Solario are the Cross of Desiderius, from the ninth century, with 212 gems and cameos, and the Lipsanoteca, a fourth century ivory casket. The nuns' choir, frescoed by Floriano Ferramola and Paolo da Caylina, is the place from which the cloistered nuns followed Mass without being seen. The domus dell'Ortaglia, two Roman houses lived in from the first to the fourth century and found in the convent's vegetable gardens, are crossed on walkways above the mosaics, and they are the part children remember. The Geronimo Stilton game, from age 6, starts here. From 4 November 2026 to 22 August 2027 there is the exhibition "Tesori", a hundred works from the museums' storerooms, included in the ticket. At least two and a half hours.

Opening hours from 1 October to 31 May Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, from 1 June to 30 September until 19:00; last entry 45 minutes before closing. Closed on Mondays, except public holidays. Opening on 25 December and 1 January is not published · 15 euros with the town museums ticket, 12 over 65, 8 under 26; 19 euros, 12 under 26, with the archaeological park. Free up to age 5 and from the third child up to age 18. The price list is valid until 22 August 2027 · 030 8174200 · bresciamusei.com · cup@bresciamusei.com

Brescia Castle

Castle · free entry · 45.54269, 10.22531

via del Castello 9, 25121 Brescia

the "Falcon of Italy" covers the whole Cidneo hill, about three hundred metres by two hundred and fifty, and is one of the largest castles in Italy. You enter through the gateway with the lion of Saint Mark and cross the drawbridge, between the Prisoners' tower, the Mirabella tower and the Venetian bastions of 1588. On the esplanade there is a steam locomotive of 1909 that ran on the Brescia-Edolo line: for the youngest it is the highlight, together with the view over the city and the Alps. The Arms Museum Luigi Marzoli, in the keep of 1343, has more than seven hundred weapons and suits of armour from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, and the tablet with the game for children can be borrowed free at the ticket office; the Risorgimento Museum, in the Grande Miglio, tells the story of the Ten Days of 1849 with videos. The Specola Cidnea, of 1953, was the first public observatory in Italy: on Friday evenings the amateur astronomers give a talk at 21:00 and then you look at the sky, free and without booking. Below the walls, on the side of the hill, there is a vineyard, the Pusterla, inside the city. In early November the Castle lights up for Mysteria, and in early October the siege of 1238 is re-enacted here. Half a day with the museums, an hour for the walk round the walls alone.

Opening hours the park and the walls every day 6:00-23:00, except during events; the Arms Museum and the Risorgimento Museum with the town museums' hours, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 from October to May, until 19:00 in summer · the park is free; the two museums are visited with the town museums ticket, 15 euros, 12 over 65, 8 under 26; free up to age 5 and from the third child up to age 18. The evenings at the Specola are free · 030 8174400 · bresciamusei.com · cup@bresciamusei.com

Church of Santi Faustino e Giovita

Church · free entry · 45.54371, 10.22009

via San Faustino 74, 25122 Brescia

the church of the patron saints, whose remains it keeps in their tomb, and for the people of Brescia it comes straight after the two cathedrals. Its origins are perhaps eighth century, the monastery was founded by Bishop Ramperto in the ninth, and its present form is seventeenth century. In the presbytery is the Apotheosis of Saints Faustinus, Jovita, Benedict and Scholastica by Giandomenico Tiepolo, and the banner by Romanino. On 15 February the fair of the patron saints begins right in front of it. It is next to the San Faustino metro stop, and from here you climb to the Castle or walk into the Carmine.

Opening hours Monday to Friday 7:30-12:00 and 15:00-19:00; Saturday and Sunday 7:30-19:00, according to the parish · 030 43752 · sanfaustinobrescia.org · parrocchia@sanfaustinobrescia.org

The Carmine and the Torre della Pallata

Monument · free entry · 45.54064, 10.21593

corso Mameli, angolo via della Pace, 25122 Brescia

the Carmine is the working-class quarter at the foot of the hill, between via San Faustino, corso Mameli and via Porta Pile, named after the Carmelite convent and the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, of 1345. It was the city of canals, the Garza and the Bova, which powered the workshops, and today it is the most mixed quarter of the centre, with shops and bars from half the world. At the end, on the corner of corso Mameli, stands the Torre della Pallata, about 32 metres high, built in 1254 of Botticino stone to defend the gate of San Giovanni: it is the only tower left from the first ring of walls, with its clock of 1461 and fifteenth century battlements. At its foot is the fountain of 1597 with the statues of the rivers Mella and Garza. It is the best way down from the Castle.

Opening hours the tower is seen from outside; the church of Santa Maria del Carmine opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00-12:00 and 15:00-18:00, according to the parish of San Faustino · 030 43752

Piazza della Vittoria

Square · free entry · 45.53838, 10.21912

piazza della Vittoria, 25121 Brescia

built between 1927 and 1932 to a design by Marcello Piacentini, by demolishing the medieval Pescherie quarter, it is Fascist era architecture to be read: the Torrione, 57 metres, among the first reinforced concrete skyscrapers in Italy, the Post Office building with white and ochre stripes, the tower with the clock. The red stone arengario, the speakers' platform, has nine bas-reliefs with the history of the city, from the Winged Victory to the Ten Days: a revision with children of what they will see in the museums. In front of the arengario stood the "Bigio", the statue by Arturo Dazzi removed after the war, and the pedestal in the fountain, rebuilt in 2013, has remained empty. On the second Sunday of the month, except July and August, there is the antiques market, and in December the Christmas stalls. The metro stops here, at the Vittoria stop, and piazza della Loggia is two minutes away.

Opening hours always open

The porticoes, from via X Giornate to corso Zanardelli

Walk · free entry · 45.53670, 10.22099

corso Zanardelli, 25121 Brescia

the city's drawing room, all under the porticoes. Via X Giornate has the porticoes by Pier Maria Bagnadore, of 1595, which start under the Clock Tower; corso Zanardelli is the hundred and fifty metre stretch between via X Giornate and corso Magenta, under eighteenth century porticoes, where wine was once sold, and there stands the Teatro Grande. Corso Palestro continues west, to San Francesco and the Miracoli, corso Magenta east, to piazzale Arnaldo. When it rains you can walk round the centre and stay dry, and in December it is the stroll under the Christmas lights.

Teatro Grande

Monument · paid entry · 45.53679, 10.22076

corso Zanardelli 9/A, 25121 Brescia

from the façade on corso Zanardelli you would never guess: the entrance is under the porticoes, and inside it is all gold. It stands where in 1643 Venice gave a space to the Accademia degli Erranti; today's horseshoe-shaped auditorium is by Luigi Canonica and was inaugurated in 1810, and the name Grande comes from Napoleon. The Rococo Ridotto, of 1760-1769, is frescoed by Francesco Zugno, a pupil of Tiepolo, with masked ladies and gentlemen drinking hot chocolate. It has been a national monument since 1912. With children the right choice is the treasure hunt, and the dates must be asked at the box office; in June the theatre takes opera all over the city with the Festa dell'Opera.

Opening hours in October 2026 the calendar of guided tours is "being defined"; in summer, for a few weeks between July and August, the Ridotto and the rooms can be visited without booking, Thursday to Sunday 10:30-13:00 and 14:30-18:30 · the tour "Alla scoperta del Teatro Grande", one hour, 13 euros, 8 under 30, free under 7; the treasure hunt for children up to age 11 15 euros per child and 5 per adult, with a snack. The theatre does not give the year of the price list · 030 2979333 · teatrogrande.it · biglietteria@teatrogrande.it

Church of San Francesco d'Assisi

Church · free entry · 45.53796, 10.21502

via San Francesco d'Assisi 3/a, 25122 Brescia

built from 1254 to 1265 on land given to the Franciscans by the Comune, it is among the first Franciscan churches in Lombardy, with a gabled façade and a rose window. Inside is Romanino's altarpiece of the Virgin enthroned, from about 1515, in a frame by Stefano Lamberti, and the choir with twenty-two inlaid stalls. From the right aisle you go into the cloister of 1394, with its slender columns of red Verona marble. With the Miracoli and Santi Nazaro e Celso, two hundred metres away, it makes a half-hour round.

Opening hours every day 6:45-11:30 and 15:00-19:15; from 15 June to 14 September the afternoon opening is at 16:00 · 030 2926701 · sanfrancescobrescia.it · conventosanfrancescobs@gmail.com

Santa Maria dei Miracoli

Church · free entry · 45.53725, 10.21494

corso Martiri della Libertà, 25122 Brescia

after the plague of 1480-1484 it was said that an image of the Madonna painted on the front of a house worked miracles: the Comune bought the house and in 1488 started building the sanctuary. What you come to see is above all the marble façade, worked like lace by the Sanmicheli workshop and finished by 1500, with its four-columned porch from the late sixteenth century: close up there are animals, leaves and figures in every centimetre, and with children you can play at finding them. The church's opening hours are not published, but the façade is worth stopping for even with the doors closed.

Church of Santi Nazaro e Celso

Church · free entry · 45.53694, 10.21340

corso Giacomo Matteotti 31, 25122 Brescia

a large neoclassical church, rebuilt in the second half of the eighteenth century by Antonio Marchetti, which you enter for one painting: the Averoldi Polyptych by Titian, of 1520-1522, painted for Altobello Averoldi, papal nuncio in Venice. In the centre the Resurrection, at the top the Annunciation split in two, at the sides Saints Nazarius and Celsus with the kneeling patron and Saint Sebastian, who carries the signature and the date on the column, "Ticianus faciebat MDXXII": you can ask children to find it. The Duke of Ferrara, who was waiting for his own paintings from Titian, tried to get that Saint Sebastian for himself instead of leaving it to Brescia. At the sides are two panels by Moretto. A quarter of an hour.

Opening hours Monday to Saturday 9:00-11:30 and 15:00-17:30; Sunday 9:00-12:00 and 15:30-19:00. During Mass, on Saturday at 18:00 and on Sunday at 10:00 and 18:00, visits are suspended · 030 3754387 · parrocchiasantinazaroecelsobrescia.it · santinazaroecelso@diocesi.brescia.it

Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo

Museum · paid entry · 45.53460, 10.22615

piazza Moretto 4, 25122 Brescia

the city's picture gallery in Palazzo Martinengo da Barco, reopened in 2018 after nine years of works. There are two Raphaels, the Blessing Christ and an Angel, the Adoration of the Shepherds by Lorenzo Lotto, Vincenzo Foppa, and the three Brescian painters of the Renaissance: Moretto, Romanino and Savoldo, with the Portrait of a Young Man with a Flute. A whole section is devoted to Giacomo Ceruti, il Pitocchetto, the eighteenth century painter of the poor: the Washerwoman and the School for Girls are the paintings to show children, real girls at school three hundred years ago. Then the nineteenth century, with Hayez and Canova's Eleonora d'Este. With children the best idea is drawing: a notebook and a pencil, and entry is free. There is a lift; an hour and a half.

Opening hours from 1 October to 31 May Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, from 1 June to 30 September until 19:00; last entry 45 minutes before closing. Closed on Mondays, except public holidays · 15 euros with the town museums ticket, 12 over 65, 8 under 26; free up to age 5, from the third child up to age 18, and every day for anyone who brings drawing materials. The price list is valid until 22 August 2027 · 030 8174200 · bresciamusei.com · cup@bresciamusei.com

Museo Auto Storiche, formerly the Museo Mille Miglia

Museum · paid entry · 45.52466, 10.26708

viale della Bornata 123, 25135 Brescia

the museum of the race, opened in 2004 in the monastery of Sant'Eufemia della Fonte, four kilometres east of the centre. In 2026 it changed its name: the Automobile Club of Brescia, which owns the Mille Miglia trademark, asked it to stop using it. The cars that won from 1927 to 1957 are on loan from collectors and museums, and they change often, because they still take part in the re-enactments; the route through the museum comes right up to today's race. Tell children the story of the roll of paper four and a half metres long with which the navigator Denis Jenkinson guided Stirling Moss to the record of 1955. It is a long way from the metro, almost a kilometre from the Sanpolino stop: by motorhome you stop here before or after the Poliambulanza stopover, which is three kilometres away. An hour, an hour and a half.

Opening hours every day 10:00-18:00, last entry at 17:00. Closed on 24, 25, 26 and 31 December 2026 and 1 January 2027 · with the 2026 price list, 10 euros; 8 over 65; 5 from 9 to 16; free up to age 8 · 030 3365631 · museoautostoriche.it · segreteria@museoautostoriche.it