Brescia
Discover Brescia
Brescia is a rich industrial city in Lombardy between Lake Garda, Lake Iseo and the Val Trompia in the foothills of the Alps, about 100 km east of Milan, and the capital of the province of Brescia. Vintage car aficionados flock to Brescia to witness the start and finish of the Mille Miglia race, and wine lovers appreciate the local Franciacorta wines. While the province is rich in scenic and popular tourist destinations, including the shore of the Lake Garda, the city of Brescia is less known for tourists. One may that due to its heavily industrialised cityscape it can be found not as interesting compared to other major cities of Lombardy.
What to Experience in Brescia
Taste of Brescia...
Try the true "bresciano" food, including casoncelli (called in Brescian dialect "casonsei"), homemade tortellini with beef, served with "Burro versato" (spilled Butter) and sage with sprinkling of Parmigiano. Try the polenta (in winter only) a mush made with durum wheat, Polenta taragna is mixed with homemade cheeses and butter. Try the amazing spiedo (in winter only) roasted larks and pork meat cooked for 6–7 hours in oven with butter and flavours or on grill. It's very typically Bresciano! The Brescia cuisine is based on dishes with strong and decisive flavors that fully reflect the territory and the products and raw materials come exclusively from the hilly areas, from the mountain areas and from the lake areas. Let's see what are some of the best typical dishes of Brescia that you absolutely must not give up: The traditional cuisine of Brescia reflects the territory of its province; vast hilly, mountainous, wooded and lake areas, in fact the gastronomy of Brescia is marked by tastes and dishes where land and lake are combined. Some of these typical products are oil (produced in the area of Lake Garda), Bagoss (a hard mountain cheese, extremely tasty), Franciacorta wines (especially sparkling wines produced exclusively in the Brescia area which have surpassed even those French in many international competitions).
Essential Information
Getting There
Multiple OptionsYou can reach Brescia by any train from the expensive Eurostars to the cheap and slow regionale commuter trains. There are 2 bus hubs located near the railway station. The ring roads around Brescia are: the Tangenziale Sud, or Tangenziale Alcide De Gasperi, which goes around the town to the south, and the Tangenziale Ovest is a municipal road, classified as urban, which goes around the town to the west. Brescia is crossed by the following state and regional roads: Directions from the most famous cities in Northern Italy: The compact historical centre of the city has a bus system that works well for inhabitants and other commuters. To get to the outer districts, you can take advantage of Brescia's metro, opened in 2013, making it the smallest city in the world with an underground train system. It features the same driverless automated system as in Copenhagen but with even more spectacular station designs....
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
The compact historical centre of the city has a bus system that works well for inhabitants and other commuters. To get to the outer districts, you can take advantage of Brescia's metro, opened in 2013, making it the smallest city in the world with an underground train system. It features the same driverless automated system as in Copenhagen but with even more spectacular station designs. The Brescia metro is an automatic light metro line, whose construction began in 2003, and inaugurated on 2 March 2013, which connects the northern districts of the city to those of the south-east area, passing through the historic centre. It uses a fully automatic rapid rail transport system designed and built by Ansaldo-STS, similar to the one already built for the Copenhagen metro. The route is limited to the municipal area only and extends for 13 km. There are 17 stations, of which eight in a deep tunnel, five in a covered trench, two located along the surface section and two on the viaduct.
Where to Stay
Because it's not a primary tourist destination, Brescia is a bit short on hospitality, especially in the budget range. You'll find a few budget hotels in shadier parts of the city, and some nicer ones close to the train station. For hostels, you're out of luck, and bed and breakfasts are recommended but only if you have a car, as they're usually found in the surrounding towns. Brescia is close to the lakes of Iseo and Garda. You can take trains and buses to the lakes. The ones who travels with a car will find scenic drives there and elsewhere around the city. Brescia is also so close to other cities more proximate to natural beauty (e.g. Milan, Como, Iseo, Verona, Mantua, and many more), that you may want to just use one of them as a base. The Franciacorta region south of the Lake Iseo boasts opportunities to taste some of the finest (and most expensive) wines in Italy, as well as tour vineyards and cantinas.
Money & Budget
The historic centre of the city has an active shopping district, with numerous clothing and jewellery stores. City residents enjoy strolling through the stretches from the Portici (shopping porticos built literally on top of their similarly styled and utilized Roman antecedents in the heart of the downtown) to Piazza della Loggia. Try the true "bresciano" food, including casoncelli (called in Brescian dialect "casonsei"), homemade tortellini with beef, served with "Burro versato" (spilled Butter) and sage with sprinkling of Parmigiano. Try the polenta (in winter only) a mush made with durum wheat, Polenta taragna is mixed with homemade cheeses and butter. Try the amazing spiedo (in winter only) roasted larks and pork meat cooked for 6–7 hours in oven with butter and flavours or on grill.
Safety Information
Glimpses of Brescia
Brescia Cathedral at sunset - Dome of the church in Brescia Lombardy region
brown and white concrete building during sunset
a city square at night with people walking around
an aerial view of a small island in the middle of the ocean
people walking on street near building during daytime
two person standing on escalator
an aerial view of a city at night
gold and white ceiling dome
a view of a city with a clock tower at dusk
A motorcycle at a courtyard in Brescia.
Brescia Cathedral at sunset - Dome of the church in Brescia Lombardy region
brown and white concrete building during sunset
a city square at night with people walking around