Every design for Brescia

On the Colle Cidneo, the hill said to be named after Cidnus, a legendary king of the Ligures, the walls of the Castello di Brescia look down over the old town and the long reach of the plain beyond. Founded more than three thousand years ago and known to the Romans as Brixia, Brescia keeps the best-preserved Roman public buildings in northern Italy, and its Roman and Lombard monuments, from the Tempio Capitolino and the forum to the monastery now home to the Museo di Santa Giulia, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For people from Brescia, the nickname the Lioness of Italy still means something: a stubborn, hard-working city that makes steel, machine tools and firearms and takes pride in it. Belonging here comes with the start and finish of the Mille Miglia, with Lake Garda and Lake Iseo a few kilometres away, with a glass of Franciacorta for special occasions, and with the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo for a rainy Sunday.

Trace the streets on the map and you will find the way you walked to school, the square where you met your friends and the path that climbs up to the castle, the whole city of your childhood seen from the top of the hill.