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At the end of July I paid a visit to Brescia. And I discovered that it is one of the most beautiful cities in northern Italy.

A good part of the cities I visit starts at the railway station. The city of Brescia starts with a railway station that wants to look (and succeeds) like a fake castle. The lamp posts planted in front of it also look, quite successfully, like old scales turned upside down.

The only interesting thing you find inside the station is the typically Italian bathroom: you have to pay for it. I have never yet met a foreign tourist who did not mock this Italian tax. Anyway, in Brescia it is enough to wait a minute for someone to come out and then take advantage of the open door…

But let’s move on to nicer things and go straight to the centre. Every explorer should remember that beautiful things are found in the centre, while interesting ones are found in the surroundings. The outskirts, instead, are all grey and all the same. Brescia’s central square presents itself as a very well-balanced architectural complex.

The great peculiarity of Brescia’s centre: there is no cathedral on the main square. Instead, there is an enormous municipal building that is difficult to frame properly in a photo (the white one on the left).

Built in the 16th century by three different architects, the town hall has a lot of interesting details.

In fact, the historic city centre is a large (and beautiful) mix of architectural styles accumulated from the 13th century onwards.

The Brescia Cathedral is nice, but it has nothing truly special about it. Much more interesting is the church located to its right. If you happen to pass by, go inside and see it all, just to understand how churches should be (yes, I know that according to primary sources there should not really be churches around at all).

Slightly outside the centre, on Colle Cidneo, stands the 13th-century Visconti Castle. From the point where it finally became visible to me, it looked like a small bastion.

In reality, it is a large and beautiful castle, preserved in a condition very close to the original. Inside there are multi-level parks with plenty of greenery and two museums. You can climb some of the towers and see the entire city from above.

To reach the castle I would recommend the smaller paths on the right side of the hill, which you reach by following the advertisements of printing houses. In that case you will be able to see some interesting landscapes.

Near the castle there is a small observatory open three evenings a week. As I couldn’t get inside, I am unable to tell you how interesting it is.

OK, now that I am tired of listing local beauties, we can go back down into the city to see the truly interesting things. Let’s start with streets that are hard to notice.

I immediately noticed, instead, that a great deal of attention is paid to design in the city. Public transport stops demonstrate this clearly:

For now, the only means of transport are buses with standard colours.

The local bike-sharing system works 24 hours a day. Unlike in Milan, where you cannot take a bike during the night break of public transport. It is therefore evident that the Brescia councillor for transport is equipped with a brain.

For private bicycles, racks are installed all over the city, which to me seem a bit too bulky. They must be hard to break…

Brescia’s postmen get around in two-seater electric cars and say they are very satisfied with them.

Traffic lights are often equipped with a countdown system for all three colours: a very convenient feature.

Parking payment machines are always painted in three colours.

Among the many versions of litter bins, I would highlight two. The first type of bin is identical to those seen in Sesto San Giovanni (MI).

The only difference is the tiny ashtray on top.

The second type of bin is the same as those in Mantua and Cinisello Balsamo (MI).

The entire city is full of surveillance cameras of various kinds. Maybe they help the police as well, but seeing them on every street corner is a bit unsettling.

Globalisation and total standardisation are manifested in the spread of identical litter bins, while lamp posts are still different from city to city. In Brescia I really liked the one that looks like an old oil lamp.

And then one of the old ones that used to run on gas and therefore had to be lit and extinguished one by one. Later they were converted to electricity, but the little doors are still visible.

But the real strong point of Brescia’s designers lies in the manhole covers. Some of them are even patented.

Have you ever seen a drinking-water manhole cover this beautiful?

People in Brescia like manhole covers so much that they even use them instead of the classic red posts for fire hydrants.

Well, I would say that at this point I can conclude. And I will do so by saying that the city of Brescia deserves to be seen and studied for many reasons: history, architecture, design, greenery…

Stay tuned. I still have a few trips left untold.