Brescia

Brescia, a town of Lombardy, capital of the province of Brescia, about 50 miles from Milan, is one of the finest towns of Lombardy. It is situated at the foot of a spur of the Rhaetic Alps, between the river Mella and the canal which falls into the Oglio. The town is in the shape of a parallelogram, about four miles in circuit, and is walled and defended to the N. by a fortress. It is the seat of a bishopric, and in its cathedral and fine churches are some good examples of the Venetian school of painting. It has a good library of about 30,000 volumes, with some rare manuscripts and antiquities. The trade has decayed. Its cutlery and its manufacture of arms once gained for it the epithet of "Armata." Its linen and cotton weaving industry is important, and silkworms are extensively bred in the neighbourhood. There is a considerable trade in arms, cattle, flax, linen, oil, wines, silk, and hardware.

Brescia, in Latin Brixia, is thought to have been an Etruscan colony. It was long allied with the Romans, till Julius Caesar incorporated it in the Fabian tribe. Passing during the later troubles of the district from Ostrogoths to Lombards, and from these to Charlemagne, it became an independent republic in the 11th century, and joined Milan in its struggle against Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick II., and Henry VII. It afterwards fell into the power of the Visconti. In the 16th century it was twice taken by the French, and Bayard was wounded at the second siege. From 1796 it has shared the general fortunes of Lombardy. Among its monuments is the temple of Vespasian; which now contains a museum, where is to be seen, among many other valuable remains, the celebrated Greek bronze statue called the Winged Victory of Brescia. The 15th and 16th century town hall is a building of much interest. A fire which nearly destroyed it in 1573 consumed three large pictures painted by Titian in his old age. In the Campo Santo outside the city the tombs are arranged against the wall like the ancient columbaria.