Art Cities Brescia
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Art Cities Brescia Brescia and its territory offer an extraordinary variety of monuments, artworks and different types of landscapes. Castle The castle is one of the most fascinating fortified buildings in Italy, where we can still admire the traces of different dominations. The influence of Visconti is reflected in the architecture of the central tower, the imposing crenel- lated walls and the tower; at the same time, the impressive bastions and the majestic entrance with its drawbridge show the Serenissima magnificence, which ruled the city for more than four centuries. Inside the castle you will be amazed by its mysterious ambiance and its armour collections. The castle is full of unexpected paths and hidden rooms. The encircling towers and the Strada del soccorso, an escape route of Viscontean age, have participated in the numerous sieges which the city has known. Following the paths, you can also discover the castle’s balanced eclecticism; one of the city’s oldest and most prized vineyards, on a slope of the hill, coexists naturally with Roman remains, such as a group of olive oil tanks, medieval bastions and a 1909 railway locomotive, the Prigioniera del Falco d’Italia. Santa Giulia Museum and monastery Santa Giulia Museum is one of the most prestigious in Europe. It is the Benedictine monastery of Saint Salvatore – Saint Giulia, founded in 753 AD by the Lombard King Desiderio. After the Napoleonic suppression, it was purchased by the Municipality, which ushered in the church of Santa Giulia the Christian Era Museum. The gradual process of discovery and cultural building recovery have opened to the public the sections of the new Museum which ranges from the Prehistoric and the Romanesque eras to the Applied Arts. Mantua Mantua, situated in Lombardy, was declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site. Mantua is a unique gem: during the Gonzaga epoch it acted as a major centre for the diffusion of Renaissance trends and values, as well as an important literary and musical capital. It is also the birthplace of the Latin poet Virgilio and every year the city hosts Festivaletteratura, a unique literary event. Mantua also originated the melodrama, from Claudio Monteverdi to Giuseppe Verdi, who chose it as the setting for Rigoletto. The theatres represent another magnificent part of the city: the wonderful Bibiena Theatre served as a honorable frame for young Mozart’s talent, who performed here in 1770. The Ducal Palace The largest court in Europe: 34,000 mq, 300 rooms, 15 corridors and indoor gardens, 70 apartments. It was the royal residence of the noble family of Gonzaga, who ruled Mantua from the coup d’état on August 16, 1328. The richest and famous art collections known in Europe at that time were stored in the palace, and you can still admire them. The Bridal Chamber The Bridal chamber, sometimes known as the Camera picta ("painted chamber"), is a room frescoed with illusionistic paintings by Andrea Mantegna in the Ducal Palace. It was painted between 1465 and 1474 and commissioned by Ludovico III Gonzaga. It is notable for the use of trompe l'oeil details. In the ‘Court scene’ he used a mysterious oily tempera dry laid out on the surface. The east and south walls followed, with the traditional fresco technique representing heavy curtains. Finally the ‘Meeting scene’ on the west wall was painted in very small bits which confirms an almost ten-year period of work on that part of the chamber. Te Palace Te Palace is one of the most beautiful dwelling place located in Italy. It perfectly reflects a difficult time in the history of Art: the passage from the splendour of the Renaissance to the exuberance of Mannerism. Villa of idleness and leisure projected for Federico II Gonzaga between 1525 and 1535 by Giulio Romano, a pupil of Raphael. This dwelling was built for the Lord’s necessities creating a private space. Outside the huge palace; in the garden, an exclusive area: the apartment called La Grotta. These residences increasingly became smaller, as if it was the game of Chinese boxes, it is one of the amazing thing of this house which suggests that Mannerism was born in this town. Federico II wanted to transform the place where the old stables of the Gonzaga Family were located in a villa for his lavish parties and for his secret encounters with his lover, Isabella Boschetti. The astronomical clock In Piazza delle Erbe, was built, in 1473, the Clock Tower of the Palazzo della Ragione. In the same year Bartolomeo Manfredi, mathematician and astronomer, son of John Clock, who learned the art in the workshop of his father, ended the beautiful astronomical clock, the first operating mechanically, that decorates it. The clock marked the hours, moon phases, the equator, planets, zodiacal signs. Very popular, it determined the time of sowing, trips, departures, nuptials. Sant’ Andrea Church The basilica was begun at the time of the Gonzaga, following the project of Leon Battista Alberti in 1472, the year of his death, by Luca Fancelli, who continued the work until 1490. It was completed in the eighteenth century by Filippo Juvarra who built the dome . In the religious history of Mantua, the Cathedral of Saint Andrea plays an important role: the civil, artistic and economic development and consolidation of the city can be considered simultaneous with its growing importance as a religious center. D’Arco Palace The D’Arco Palace was commissioned by the Count Gherardo D’Arco. The project of Antonio Colonna and Paolo Pozzo consists of several buildings arranged around a closed hexahedron court. During the visit, you can admire the richly furnished rooms located on the main floor and the collection of paintings ranging from the 15th to the 18th century. Moreover, you can admire the collection of 6,000 volumes including incunabula and manuscripts and 3,000 prints that enrich the valuable library of the palace. Cruise on Lake Superiore Mantua is a city on the water. Already in 1729 Montesquieu defined this town as a “second Venice”. This impression is given by its medieval canal, Rio, which runs through the city. The most beautiful part is Lago Superiore. Being included in the reserve of the Mincio valleys, the lake is navigable. From July to August, Lago Superiore looks like a Chinese postcard because of the lotus blooming. For this reason, the lotus became the second symbol of the city after Virgil. Verona Piazza delle Erbe Piazza delle Erbe is the oldest square in Verona, located at the site of the ancient Roman forum. You can find the Palazzo del Mercato Vecchio on the south side. Located to the southwest side, Palazzo Maffei is a baroque palace decorated with several statues of Greek gods. Colonna di San Marco is situated in front of Palazzo Maffei. It is a white marble column topped by a lion of St. Mark, the symbol of the Republic of Venice. Juliet’s House The Juliet’s House was built by the noble family Dal Cappello near Piazza delle Erbe. It is a museum in Verona since 1905. It is in a 12th century stately dwelling, where the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was represented in 1597 and where the famous balcony was reconstituted. The museum was enriched progressively with sixteenth-century and seventeenth century furniture, ceramics of the Renaissance, paintings and engravings telling the story of Romeo and Juliet, with period costumes of the film Romeo and Juliet directed in 1968 by Franco Zeffirelli. Bergamo The Upper Town and The Lower Town The city of Bergamo is divided into two parts: the Upper Town, the most high and with a historical center surrounded by walls, and the Lower Town, the most modern. The Fortress The Fortress is located in the upper part of the city on the hill of St. Euphemia which dominates, to the south, the lower town and the surrounding plains, while to the north the Orobie hills. The Venetian walls of Bergamo is an impressive architectural building dating back to the sixteenth century, built by the Republic of Venice in 1561 and completed in 1588. Donizetti Theatre and Donizetti Museum Donizetti Theatre, opened in the eighteenth century, has always stood out for opera productions whose flagship is now the Bergamo Music Festival Gaetano Donizetti. In memory of the famous composer were established numerous trails to visit the House and the Donizetti Museum which houses the manuscripts, memorabilia and objects relevant to Donizetti. Bologna Bologna hosts the most Ancient university in Europe and it still remains today one of the most important University in Italy, making of Bologna a very famous cultural centre. is known for its towers and its long arcades. The colonnades The colonnades of Bologna, over 38 km in the historic centre and candidates to become Unesco world heritage, make the city of Bologna unique. Play of lights and shadows, deep architectural perspectives, columns and capitals always give different images of an urban setting fascinating and unusual. Maggiore Square and San Petronio Church The gothic and imposing San Petronio Church, in Piazza Maggiore, was built between 1390 and 1659. It has a portal decorated with bas reliefs by Jacopo della Quercia, while inside there are some remarkably frescoed chapels. In the left aisle, on the floor, you can see the largest sundial in the world, designed by the mathematician Giovanni Domenico Cassini and built in 1655. The Fountain of Neptune is a monumental civic fountain located in the eponymous square, Piazza del Nettuno, next to Piazza Maggiore. Its bronze figure of Neptune, extending his reach in a lordly gesture of stilling and controlling the waters, is an early work by Giambologna, completed about 1567.