Brescia is the provincial capital, the second most populated regionally. Its history begins more than 3200 years ago and, despite being among the main economic and production centers in Italy, it has a conspicuous artistic and architectural heritage; the Roman and Lombard parts have been declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
TERRITORY OF BRESCIA
Brescia city develops on the plain to the hills of Monte Maddalena and Cidneo hills; to the north has the Brescian Prealps, to the east the Gardesan Prealps, to the west Franciacorta.
Hamlets: Borgosatollo, Borgo Trento, Brescia Antica, Buffalora, Caionvico, Casazza, Centro Storico Nord, Centro Storico Sud, Chiesanuova, Chiusure, Crocifissa di Rosa, Don Bosco, Fiumicello, Folzano, Fornaci, Lamarmora, Mompiano, Porta Cremona-Volta, Porta Milano, Porta Venezia, Primo Maggio, San Bartolomeo, San Polo, San Rocchino, Sanpolino, Sant’Eufemia della Fonte, Sant’Eustacchio, Urago Mella, Badia Village, Prealpine Village, Serene Village, Violin Village
Neighboring municipalities: Borgosatollo, Botticino, Bovezzo, Castel Mella, Castenedolo, Cellatica, Collebeato, Concesio, Flero, Gussago, Nave, Rezzato, Roncadelle, San Zeno Naviglio, Travagliato
Altitude: 149 m a.s.l. – Inhabitants: 198.536 (2019) – Inhabitants name: Bresciani
HISTORY OF BRESCIA
The origins of Brescia are vague and go beyond legend; from Hercules to Troe who founded a second Troy, to the Etruscans to the one that probably comes closest to reality, of Cidno, king of the Ligurians who invaded the Po valley towards the thirteenth century BC and settled in the area of present-day Brescia , fortifying the Cidneo hill.
In the history of Brescia what is certain is that the Cenomani Gauls in the seventh century BC. they occupy the plain between Adda and Adige, pushing the Ligurian-Euganean populations into the valleys and settling in Brescia which then becomes their capital. Later the Cenomani founded other cities. Towards 202 BC a confederation of Celtic populations is being created against the Romans, but the Cenomans, who had already fought alongside the Romans against the Gauls and the Carthaginians, ally themselves with the Romans thus leading them to victory; from 196 BC thus begins the Roman age and Brixia will enjoy administrative autonomy and in 89 BC is recognized with the qualification of civitas. In 41 BC it becomes part of the Roman territory and its inhabitants are given Roman citizenship, with membership in the Fabii tribe. During the republican period, the Cenomans enjoyed ample autonomy, up to self-government and to beat money, but losing the word “cenomani” in favor of that of “brixiani”. Brixia is inserted in the X Venetia et Histria region, it becomes an important religious center with three temples. Already at the beginning of the fifth century the barbarian invasions began: in 402 it was invaded by the Goths of Alaric, in 452 it was sacked by the Huns of Attila; in 476 Odoacre at the head of the Eruli invaded the Po Valley, ending the western Roman empire; in 493 it was the turn of the Ostrogoths of Theodoric the Great, who settled between Brixia and Verona; in 568 it was occupied by the Lombards of Alboino and became one of the main cities, capital of an important duchy. During the Lombard reign important monasteries arise, such as the Priory of San Colombano di Bardolino, the San Salvatore of Brescia and that of Sirmione which with their work reactivate agriculture, commerce, the development of the communication routes by land and water , connecting the city to the territories of Lake Garda: Salò, Toscolano, Manerba, Sirmione and also on the Veronese side via the Mincio river and the Adige. Brescians are the Lombard kings Rotari (his edict of 643 with the first written draft of the Lombard laws), Rodoaldo and Desiderio. With Charlemagne in 774 Brescia became a county of the Holy Roman Empire. Towards the end of the tenth century, even in Brescia the emperors began to give much of the power in the hands of the city bishops to contrast that of the nobles, but to “contrast” the bishops there is the Municipality that over time has extended its territory militarizing the banks of the Oglio, Churches and Lake Garda rivers, clashing with the territorial lordships of the countryside and those of the neighboring municipalities, especially Bergamo and Cremona. In the second half of the twelfth century Brescia was part of the Lombard League together with Milan and Piacenza against the emperor for municipal autonomy and stood out in the battle of Legnano. With the Peace of Constance of 1183 municipal autonomy was definitively recognized, but from the beginning of the thirteenth century civil conflicts began with the removal from the city of the nobles, who took refuge in Cremona and from there organized clashes with the opposite faction small town; clashes that continue until the end of the century. With the end of the domination of Ezzelino da Romano in 1259, the free Municipality passed under the protection of Oberto Pelavicino until 1265 and then under that of the Della Torre of Milan, then passed to Carlo d’Angiò from 1269 to 1281. In 1279 Brescia fought against Verona and Mantua in alliance with Padua, Cremona, Parma and Modena for the possession of some castles and the defense of Guelph interests. From 1287 to 1291 there was the great Camunian rebellion, which broke out due to a pact of Brescia with the Serenissima for the passage of salt, the controversy will be resolved by Matteo Visconti in 1291.
In the 13th century Brescia was divided internally between Guelfi: Maggi, Brusati, Gambara, Lavellongo, Poncarale, Sala, Palazzo, Martinengo, Griffi, Bardelli, Feriola) and Ghibellini families: Boccacci, Occanoni, Prandoni, Alberticoli, Peschiera, Federici families , The six.
In 1313 Brescia, to avoid falling into the hands of the Scaligeri, donated itself to the Visconti; in 1317 Matteo Visconti and Cangrande della Scala besieged the city because he had driven out the Maggi family, supporters of the Ghibellines and brought it back.
In 1329 Cangrande della Scala occupies a good part of the Brescia area; in 1330 Giovanni di Boemia and Mastino della Scala are in Brescia to bring back the Ghibellines who had been driven out.
In 1337 Brescia, which had fallen under the Scaliger rule, donated itself again to the Visconti.
From 1404 to 1421 it passed under the control of Pandolfo III Malatesta, entrusted to him by Caterina Visconti (widow of Gian Galeazzo and regent for her son Filippo Maria) to heal debts towards him; he will establish a lordship rich in institutions and prominent artists.
“The people of Brescia were so disheartened, usually quite proud and rebellious against any tyranny, that when the possibility of a lordship of a stranger arose, a strange event occurred, we would say almost absurd; there was no movement of rebellion and we adapted to the new fact. In our opinion it was not an abolic yielding to an almost inevitable historical fact, but rather the hope of a change for the better, as in fact happened, and the possibility of dealing directly in one’s own home with a gentleman whom we did not have, as we would say today, bad information. ”(Fausto Lechi)
In 1421 Pandolfo was liquidated and returned to Fano, while Francesco Bussone, known as Carmagnola, took over on behalf of the Visconti.
“Filippo Maria Visconti, still in his young age, could not resign himself to the loss of Brescia and Bergamo and therefore when his leader recaptured the two cities, he was happy, but instead of grabbing the favor of citizens with a new friendship, began a repressive, ill-advised policy. First of all, he continued in the hateful operation begun by Bernabò, of “murar Brescia”, that is, of closing in the well-known fort that cut the city in two parts. The so-called “new citadel” from the castle, where those lords lived for safety, arrived at the fort of the Garzetta, near S. Lorenzo, well closed between two high walls: one continuous current on the path of the ancient walls passing through Porta Bruciata and Porta Paganora, and the other in the morning of the Broletto and the two Domes, turned on the ancient walls to reach near S. Lorenzo with the fortress that blocked to the south the defensive system. The huge expense for this work had to be borne in full by the Brescians.
The tax burden gradually became unbearable, the usurpation of ancient rights and customs became the rule, in short, all the duke’s action manifested itself in a short time as a real revenge against a city notoriously not favorable to the vicar Ghibelline empire. It should be added that the Visconti never favored a free economic life of the Brescians but imposed a strict centralization on Milan. This complex of facts caused such discontent in the city and in the territory that it caused the fall of the Visconti dominion after only five years from its restoration. “(Fausto Lechi)
In 1426 the Brescians turned to the Milanese and trusted the Serenissima Republic of Venice; the clashes between the Visconti and the Serenissima for these territories, however, will continue until the peace of Lodi in 1454, including the episode of the city siege of Niccolò Piccinino of 1438, foiled by the captain of fortune Scaramuccia da Forlì known as Carmagnola al Venice service.
“During the winter, secret agreements were made with Carmagnola, who had gone to serve Venice, the Visconti adversaries of Brescia started a systematic military action, recruiting determined people in the valleys, especially in Val Trompia. Finally, the main managers met in Gussago in the house of Pagnone Raccagni to establish the organizational bases for a decisive action. Pietro, Achille and Filippo Avogadro, Gherardo Averoldi, Giacomo Mazzola, Pietro Sala, Giovanni Masperoni and others took part and in the night between 16 and 17 March action was taken. The Albera gate, between Porta Pile and Porta S. Giovanni, was attacked from both inside and outside …………… .. Then the people, skillfully stationed in various places of the «closures» moved and, having thrown walkways on the pits and raised stairs on the walls, they entered the districts and in a short time managed to conquer all the squares of the city , except for the new citadel… .. To undermine them, the intervention of a real army was needed. …… .. Notified according to previous agreements, Carmagnola, which was in the Treviso area, immediately moved and in three days, by forced marches, reached Brescia. …. at the end of March the fort of the Little Egret and the whole lower part of the citadel were occupied: there was nothing left to conquer but the castle fortress. … .. hostilities resumed in the spring because Filippo Maria did not adapt to losing Brescia. …… .. The Marquis of Mantua, Nicolò da Tolentino, Lorenzo Cotignola and other captains were in the Veneto camp as leaders; in the Visconti camp there were Angiolo della Pergola, Niccolò Piccinino, Francesco Sforza and others, but they were among them in grave discord under the weak command of Carlo Malatesta the brother of Pandolfo. …… Carmagnola skillfully took advantage of it, finally decided to come to a decisive clash and on 12 October it was Maclodio’s day, disastrous for the Viscounts who lost many people, especially as prisoners. Even the commander-in-chief, the Malatesta was captured. All were then freed at a high price; fact that made the Republic suspicious. The war continued for a year in small enterprises and on April 18, 1428 the first peace of Ferrara came. Carmagnola had large rewards from Venice: a palace on the Grand Canal in the capital, the Malvezzi house in Brescia and in the territory the lordship of Chiari with Clusane, Roccafranca and Castenedolo where there was a beautiful Malatesta house.
Giovanni Francesco Gonzaga was Carmagnola’s successor in command of the Venetian army, although the republic did not have full confidence in him. ………. In fact, when in the early months of 1437 hostilities resumed between Venice and Milan, despite the successes obtained by his subordinate Erasmus of Narni, in the face of the threat of the Viscounts commanded by Nicolò Piccinino, he began a retreat for which he left Bergamo and then also Brescia, leaving our territory is unattended. After him Venice gave the command to Erasmo da Narni called the Gattamelata “. (Fausto Lechi)
In the summer of 1438 Gattamelata managed to contain the advance of Piccinino, but in the autumn he had to yield and enemy troops arrived near Brescia, then besieging it with many attacks that seriously damaged the walls, but in the end the Piccinino desisted.
“Piccinino, seeing that Brescia was impregnable by force of arms, thought of dropping it by starvation by placing his troops at the outlets of the valleys so that no help could reach the exhausted city. ……. It was then that it was thought to trace the Adige from a flotilla of five galleys and 25 boats to Rovereto and then lower it by force of arms to Torbole on Lake Garda (Galeas per montes). The feat, which surprised everyone, succeeded, but Piccinino’s troops were on good guard on the shores of the lake.
Some clashes followed in 1441 until Francesco Sforza for the Serenissima and Piccinino for the Visconti agreed for a truce that was stipulated on November 20 and Venice regained all its territories until the Adda. Even in the years following the liberation of Brescia there was never peace. We remember the death of Filippo Maria Visconti in 1447; the birth of the ephemeral Ambrosian Republic with the election of Francesco Sforza as captain, the two defeats suffered by the Venetians in the years 1447 and 1448, the new siege of Brescia in October of that year 1448, ………… when Sforza abandoned the siege of Brescia retreating beyond the Adda, ………. Decision taken after the meeting with Pasquale Malipiero, Venetian administrator friend of Francesco Sforza and cousin of the bishop of Brescia Bartolomeo, who played an important part in secret negotiations with Cicco Simonetta in Rivoltella in order to make him desist from the siege of Brescia to favor his ascent to the duchy of Milan. (Fausto Lechi)
During the war of the League of Cambrai (1512-1517), Brescia was occupied and sacked by the French commanded by Gastone di Foix-Nemours, but in 1517 it returned under the rule of the Serenissima Republic and in 1571 many Brescians participated alongside Venice in the battle of Lepanto, so much so that two galleys are supplied, men and vehicles, from Brescia: the S. Eufemia and the S. Faustino and Giovita.
With the treaty of Bologna of 1530, in which the major Italian powers and the emperor agree for a reorganization of states, a period of tranquility follows but, with the period of peace, new civil problems arise, in the city and consequently also in the related territories: a sequence of crimes between the families of the nobility and the phenomenon of banditry, which will continue even in the following century.
In the seventeenth century Brescia was not directly involved in wars, but the economic crisis and the social crisis were widespread throughout Europe: wars devastated its territories and the Turks were always threatening. Behind the wars, the plagues bring endless mourning and pain. ……. Brescia for its heroic loyalty to Venice had received wide privileges, but gradually the Dominant, for its serious state needs (the defense of the eastern colonies threatened by the Turks) neglects those favors and imposes such tax burdens and such duties on the goods to turn off all craft activities. To this very serious economic situation is added the famine, the always feared passage of foreign armies at war with each other and finally the plague of 1630.
The eighteenth century Brescia rises and dies between two wars; fought in the Brescia area, Chiari (1701) and Lonato (1796), but otherwise this century is relatively peaceful, there are no wars, no armies pass, there are no plagues, no earthquakes. A single terrible disaster affects the city, the explosion of the powder tower of Porta S. Nazzaro in 1769 due to lightning, which destroys a district of the city and costs the lives of many people.
Even the internal quarrels between powerful families are over. The rivalries subside because political conflicts no longer arise in the narrow urban sphere, but have moved to the highest spheres of rivalries between nations. Venice is tired: its overseas business is dying out; the mainland cities in terms of politics also adapt to that standard of living; if life is apparently peaceful, there are many innovations that make this century a century of ideas. … .. Thus an environment greedy for a varied culture is formed, a surprising interest in art and culture, painting, Venetian furniture, music, the desire to establish relationships with foreign countries.
We have numerous examples from Brescia such as: Gio. Andrea Archetti, cardinal and nuncio, who will live for a long time at the court of St. Petersburg earning the favor of the Tsars; Gaudenzio Valotti who will become ambassador and foreign minister of the Duke of Modena; Gio. Antonio Bettoni who in the wars for Silesia of Maria Teresa will reach the rank of Field Marshal; Count Pietro Lechi who will shuttle between the court of Vienna and the Doge; During Duranti he will become intimate adviser to King Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy; Giacomo and Delay Bettoni who will carry out large commercial activities in Genoa; Federico Mazzucchelli who from a trip to Russia will report an incessant and careful correspondence on the sad conditions of those people; Rodolfo Vantini with decorative complements and with real architectural additions; Manfredini and Teosa, two excellent decorators, with widespread works in city buildings; Giacomo Ceruti and Santino Callegari; Antonio Turbini will study the ingenious scenographic devices for his villas and palaces; Gianbattista Marchetti and his son Antonio; Giovanni Maria Mazzucchelli, writer of multifaceted activities; Angelo Querini. the great Cardinal of Brescia by election. ”
Brescia remained under the Serenissima Republic of Venice until the 1797 Treaty of Campoformio, later becoming the territory of the Napoleonic states of the Cisalpine Republic until 1814. In 1849 there were the “Ten days of Brescia”, the city revolt against the Austrians to the city of Brescia the nickname “Lioness of Italy”, with the head of the insurgents Tito Speri who will be executed in 1853. In 1860 the annexation to the Kingdom of Italy.
TO VISIT IN BRESCIA
Castle, Broletto, Piazza della Loggia, Piazza della Vittoria,