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2 3 and artists Brescia Culture 4 01 Sirmione (Brescia) - The Catullo's Caves.

Cover: 1 - Giacomo Antonio Ceruti: “the Pitocchetto”, La Lavandaia (about 1730). 2 - Brescia - The Capitolium (73 A.D.). 3 - Brescia - The Wing Victory (I sec. A.D.).

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Brescia - Emperors portraits made of golden bronze (end of III century A.D.).

Numerous pieces of art spread out on the territory of the Brescia province are the real ambassadors of this land, and many are the artists who, in the course of their human and professional career, have known the city of Brescia. Fragments of life and emotions were brought to us with delicate poetry, and are 02 still there in order to testify the beauty of the places and the magic suggestive feelings, sprung in the human soul. The Greatness of Arts and Literatures left deep signs in the land of Brescia: meanwhile, this land was generous with them with offering itself completely as a seducing inspirer of real and life full sensations. Since early ages, the poetry of the landscape was inspiring poets and artists. Gaio Valerio Catullo, Latin poet of the I century b.C., singer of love and literary engagement, is surely one of the ancient “promoters” of Sirmione and the lake of Garda. Here, he lived for long and sang its beauty as “the pearl of islands and peninsulas”. 6

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More other proofs of man’s arts and architecture are spread out in the Brescia province. The Catullo’s caves (on the edge of Sirmione peninsula) are known as an important archaeological sites, where the visitor can find the largest and best structured Roman villa of all Northern Italy.

This villa (where people say the poet also lived part of his life) is the perfect expression of the balance between man and environment; and this aspect is recurrent and constant in his works of art often connected to Brescia. The roman presence was very sensible to the environmental beauties of this land. In Desenzano, the mosaics of a famous Roman villa dated IV century a.D. and the several archaeological rests found (one of them was a very old plough of the year 2000 b.C. and surely one of the oldest in the world) do testify the real love for arts, with no doubts risen from the harmony of these landscapes. But the greatness of the Roman age has its brightest splendour expressed in the city of Brescia, where, in its heart, frescos and mosaics decorate the rich Ninpheus Domus and the Ortaglia Domus in the Saint Giulia monastery. Not far away, there are the impotent rests of the Capitolium, in memory of the civil and religious life of that period.

The beautiful Italy and the harmonic Brescia province are also present in many poets' works of art. Dante Alighieri and Francesco Petrarca sang the beauties of the lake of Garda as a paradigm of the splendour of the territory and used its image as a metaphor of the high quality of life characterising our Country. A wonderful land making many poets fall in love with. It is very easy to remember one of the most famous and world known Johann Wolfgang 04 Goethe, whose love for the lake of Garda was extremely deep. Here, he found the peace of his tumultuous heart and his famous “Voyage to Italy” (a serene mixing of Latin classics and German culture) reveals absolutely modern passages, even for our days; if it is although a little out of date the trip by coach to the lake, the descriptions made by the poet are still vigorous and poetic, poetically singing the surrounding hills and his meeting with the large lake of Garda, the lemon trees, the colours of the Mediterranean vegetation. Tales of feelings that make the poet say: “It is impossible to describe with human words the enchantment of the luxurious Riviera”. An enchantment still alive and fascinating that can be felt with a simple visit to the lake ...

6- Brescia - The Capitolium (73 A.D.). 7- Brescia - San Francesco d'Assisi (about 1250 A.D.). 8- Brescia - The old Cathedral (about 1100). 9- Desenzano (Brescia) - The Roman Villa (IV century A.D.). 10 - Brescia - The Santa Giulia Monastery, Ortaglia Domus. 11

05 Between the 13th and the 14th century, in the Brescia province a school of artists well developed, that took and mixed, with intuition and good results, the Venetian and Lombardy culture.

The result was an original fusion, which generated great masterpieces, the great amount and artists of which are nowadays displayed in the museums of the city, or extraordinary frescos

Brescia conserved in many churches, mainly in the Camonica Valley. The collection of the Art Gallery Tosio Martinengo, in Brescia, gathers an important collection of pieces of art belonging to local painters and it is, moreover, a fundamental museum to know the Brescia painting of the Renaissance; among the exhibited works of art, there are precious frescos Culture of the 15th and 16th century; pieces of art that are proofs of the real Humanism made by Vincenzo Foppa, unquestioned master of colour and authentic protagonist of his age; examples of the happy season of the 16th century in Brescia, with works of art by Gerolamo Savoldo, Alessandro Bonvicino called the Moretto, Gerolamo Romanino and Lattanzio Gambara. Italian and foreign masters accompany the visitor through the different rooms where are the masterpieces by Lotto and Clouet, Raffaello and Van Plattemberg, Moroni and Campi and Tournier. Also the stones, together with the paintings, lead us to the discovery of Brescia. Just in the immediate outskirts of the city, there are many quarries of precious marbles, among which the Classic Botticino is the most notorious.

Those marbles were used to adorn many buildings and residences and are, in our time, the silent guardians of the long history of the town. The stones tell us the real history of Brescia, expressing the energetic vitality and its great power of living; from the imposing stones of the Castle, a military structure built between the 12th and the 16th century, to those of the Broletto, where different constructive styles exist in a surprising harmony; from those of the Old Cathedral, fantastic "winter cathedral" whose Roman architecture goes back up to the XI century, to the numerous stories representing the Power, as narrated in the several buildings of the city centre of Brescia. We obviously suggest to have a walk around, in a pleasant sightsee all along the elegant streets and historical corners, in a fantastic intersection of visit paths.

11 - Vincenzo Foppa, the Orzinuovi flag (1514). 06 12 - Lorenzo Lotto, Crèche (1527). 13 - Cincinnato Baruzzi, Silvia (1837) from the Tosio collection.

12 13 Architecture and painting chase after one to the other in the different localities of the province. For example, the 15th century church of Santa Maria della Neve (Saint Mary of the Snow), in Pisogne (Camonica Valley), with its walls and decorated vaults representing the Christ

and artists Passion. The close village of Esine, where a number of superb representations are preserved Brescia in the church of Santa Maria Assunta; Bienno, with the church of Santa Maria Annunziata, and Breno, with the gorgeous parish church of Sant’Antonio, and thousand more other treasures, in every village or town. It is wonderful to lose oneself between such intriguing

Culture alternatives. And more, in the Camonica Valley, among forested slopes and snowy mountains, the 16th and 17th centuries saw the extraordinary flourish of the wooden sculpture, with pieces of art, generally devotional featured, and representing subjects of religious background. This art, that was defined “minor” for long, in reality brought real masterpieces; for example, largely valuable are the 198 wood and plaster statues, in natural size, conserved in the Parish church in Cerveno. The statues were started during the year 1500 and completed in the year 1871 by the sculptor Beniamino Simoni, authentic Christian and artist of great artistic awareness and true personal modesty. Every ten years in Cerveno the “Santa Crus” happens, a living “Via Crucis” in which the characters, in costumes inspired to the sculptural representations, live the drama of the Passion of the Christ. Up to now, we spoke about the local painters of the Renaissance. Compared with the official paint standards of that age, their artistic route was placed in a prospective of “more approached humanity, more humble religiosity, with truer and more colourful aspect”; this means that they were paying special attention to represent the “true” instead of the stereotypes of the Mannerism. The path covered by these great artists had in Caravaggio, Lotto, Moretto and Savoldo the most noteworthy exponents. The interesting discovery of the great painters of Brescia goes on with the paintings of Giuseppe Ceruti, called the Pitocchetto. The paintings of this notorious painter, such as the famous portraits of the human figure caught in the most humble quotidian, are conserved in the Art gallery Tosio Martinengo and some churches of the Camonica Valley.

07 14 - Beniamino Simoni, via Crucis in Cerveno (1871). 15 - Gerolamo Romanino, Crucifixion, in Santa Maria della Neve (“of the Snow”) in Pisogne - Brescia (1530 ca.). 16 - Alessandro Bonvicino, “the Moretto” Gentleman’s portrait (1535-40).

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About 4.500 of paintings, sculptures, graphics and drawings belonging to the Institute Paolo VI are preserved by The Association of Art and Spirituality, in Brescia, permanent exhibition and testimony of the different ways to represent the sacred and devotional subjects by our modern artists. Brescia is a city of art and grand museums. Apart from the quoted Art Gallery Tosio Martinengo, with its rich artistic collections, it is surely essential to pay a visit to the Monastery of Santa Giulia, nowadays commonly called “The Museum of the Town”, representing the conjunction between the ancient religious structures of the city and its history, and the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, with its collection of paintings, graphics and sculptures, from the year 1800 up till now.

The social and economic history of the province is summarized in the Museum of the Risorgimento, one of the most famous in Italy, with its collection of documents, telling us the valuable Risorgimento age, and the Museum of Weapons “Luigi Marzoli”, gathering the richest collection of weapons divided in ages and types, among which a precious Milan and Brescia production of the centuries XV-XVIII.

10 17 - Brescia - The Santa Giulia Monastery, San Salvatore internal (VIII century A.D.). 18 - Giulio Evola (1898-1974), Modern and Contemporary Gallery. 19 - Brescia, The Risorgimento Museum - Faustino Joli (1814-1876), Battle of March 31st 1849 in Santa Barbara Square (1849). 20 - Brescia, The Weapons Museum - Horse frontal armour and knight armour of the XVI century.

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The Art Gallery of Evolution in Rezzato will arouse the visitors’ surprise, where the artistic and destructive power of Picasso is placed side by side with the first exceptional painting expressions of very young international painters. And of course, the Vittoriale of the Italians, the museum-village, that belongs to one of the most significant characters of the Brescia culture and of the Italian history, Gabriele D'Annunzio. “Hic manebimus optime” is the expression summarizing the sense of harmony and quality of the Garda area, where the poet lived for long, with its elegant palaces, the wonderful frescos, the historical residences and the enchantment of nature. Important and famous writers have adopted this land as their own inspiration. The Nobel for Literature Paul Von Heise loved to exercise in painting among the small villages close to Gardone Riviera, on the lake of Garda; and it is easy to understand how the sweet lake landscapes inspired the poet for his lyrics and pleasant novels... Also David H. Lawrence was intrigued by the passionate Italian land and curious of its fascinating people and wrote pages of spontaneous love for these places. A passion that brought the writer to state that the lake of Garda is “beautiful like a paradise, like the first design”. The stories of common but typical people, the stories of love and feelings he left, are the precious inheritance and a vivid proof of the great atmosphere that the lake is arousing inside.

The charm of the small town of Sirmione inspired a happy and serene period for Ezra Pound, James Joice, Riccardo Bacchelli, world-famous writers. 11

21 - Rezzato (Brescia) - Art gallery of the Evolution Age. 22/23 - Gardone Riviera (Brescia), The Vittoriale of the Italians. The Zambracca Room and the Open Theatre. 24 - Lake of Garda, Borghese Island (Brescia) - The Borghese Villa.

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Also the music found an important place in Brescia. “Today the new Liszt was born”: these famous words, pronounced during the 1° International Concourse in Geneva, commented the qualities of the 19 years old pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, from Brescia, whose long concert career strongly developed, starting at the age of 14, and showing an extraordinary talent, world-wide recognised since ever.

Every year in Brescia and Bergamo, the International Piano Festival is set in his honour; a date of great significance for all musicians and fond of music people, gathering orchestras and conductors of the greatest artistic value. To go on with music interest, it is impossible to forget Maria Callas, who lived a long period of her life in Sirmione. Many musical events and cultural initiatives are set to remember her as great artist and fascinating goddess, enchanted by these places. Her love was entirely reciprocated by the small town of Sirmione she frequented.

25 - The Soprano Maria Callas (1923-1977). 13 26 - Brescia, the Major Theatre, Gianpietro Moretti (1955) Bust of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (2002). 27 - The International Piano Festival in Brescia and Bergamo. 28 - Brescia - Room in the Major Theatre.

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14 BRESCIATOURISM Initiative of: PRO-BRIXIA Provincia Azienda Speciale della CAMERA DI COMMERCIO di Brescia di BRESCIA

In co-operation with: Ascom e Confesercenti di Brescia

Graphic design: Clerici & Associati (Brescia)

Pictures: Archivio Festival Pianistico Internazionale Brescia/Bergamo (27) Archivio de “Il Vittoriale degli Italiani” (22, 23) Lonati (2, 21, 26) Pini (4, 24) Rapuzzi (1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 28)

Translations: Work Media (Brescia)

Printing: Staged (Brescia) - June 2002 and artists Brescia Culture

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