New Cathedral of Brescia

The Old Cathedral is a Romanesque building erected in the 11th century on a previous basilica. Important works were carried out there between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century when the presbytery was enlarged, a transept was added, as well as the Chapel of the Holy Crosses. Following the sack of Brescia by the army of Gaston de Foix-Nemours in 1512, the cathedral was embellished. In 1571 the interior was reorganized according to the directives of the Counter-Reformation. Later, the restoration by Luigi Arcioni (1841-1918) led to the elimination of many Baroque additions and superstructures, restoring the imposing Romanesque volume to an essential part of its original appearance. At the end of the 20th century, the frescoes in the transept were cleaned and restored, in particular to remedy the constant and ever-present problems of humidity that afflict the building.

The Basilica of San Salvatore was founded in 753 as the church of the female monastery of San Salvatore and was completed more than eight centuries later, in 1599. Of the original church, only the structure with three naves marked by columns and capitals is preserved. The church is entirely decorated with some of the richest and best-preserved stuccoes and frescoes of the early Middle Ages. The complex is one of the seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites that bear witness to the culture of the Lombard people.

The church of Santa Maria in Solario was built in the middle of the 12th century in the complex of the monastery of Santa Giulia. Already in the 15th century, the upper hall of the church was decorated with frescoes, but most of the frescoes that can be admired today were painted by Floriano Ferramola between 1513 and 1524. Put out of use, like the rest of the monastery, in 1797, the church was not recovered until the second half of the twentieth century and since 1998 it has been part of the itinerary of the Museum of Santa Giulia, founded on the premises of the former monastery.