2025 Brescia

A Roman statue of Victory, found in Brescia

14.8.25

On the Torre Coltrina, with a great view south across the city, the Loggia just visible. Huge castle here – I had no idea Italy had such large medieval constructions.  A high outer wall then another inner one, both daunting.  Built on a natural hill, this place must have been impregnable for centuries.

A view of Brescia from the Torre Coltrina

Waiting to enter the Roman ruins, which open at 10am.  Steep stairs down from the castle, great views across the city.  In the historical museum area, very quiet, lots of back streets, many doubtless following ancient ways.  By the Roman theatre, reasonable preservation.  Seats broken but visible.  Reached by a system of galleries called vomitoria.  Really.

Roman amphitheatre, with vomitoria

Waiting to be conducted to the Roman museum here, even though the ticket said to go straight in… Ah well, Italy.  On the non-guided tour (sic), to see the 1st century BCE frescoes.  Good video showing the rise of Brixia – rather impressive temple and forum plus city.  Amazingly well preserved mosaic floor and frescoes – all 89 to 75 BCE.  Interesting wall design – like book bindings.  Trompe l’oeil fabrics beneath.  Real columns and painted ones.    Frieze along the top with geometric patterns – Cretan swastika, nested squares.

Frescoes and mosaics from two thousand years ago

Up into the main temple, or a reconstruction of it.  Bronze winged Victory mid 1st century CE.  Very impressive.  Pleats of the dress, and feathers of the wings amazing.  Lucky it survived.  Interesting “air lock” system: two sets of doors between main temple spaces.  You enter a small space between them.  The door closes, and the other door opens to view the Victory.  Keeps air cool.  Very strict on enforcing it.

A curious inscription

Back to a hall with hundreds of inscriptions - most real, some painted because still in situ.  Impressive how many have been found.  One inscription seems to have Germanic runes on it…

Along to the old cathedral.  Naturally three metres below current levels (reminds me of Esna).  As a result, the inside looks much bigger than the outside – a medieval Tardis.  The round form is both powerful and simple; echoing the round Romanesque arches.  Huge pillars, immensely thick.  Unusual design, with choir off main space, deep crypt below.  To the crypt – that cold, dank smell.  From 838, as is the church, according to the inscriptions.

The old, circular cathedral

Coffee in Piazza Paolo VI.  Good view of the old and new cathedrals and Broletto tower.  New cathedral facade has rounded and square pilasters with composite capitals - Ionic and Corinthian.  Extravagant broken curved pediment over the entrance.

On the way to the Piazza della Loggia, via the suspended rhinoceros

Air humid, sky overcast but bright, gentle breeze.  Perfect for sightseeing.  To Piazza della Loggia.  I’d forgotten about the clock opposite – very like the one in Venice.  Eating in L’oste sobrio, where they have banged us up by the fridge and toilets.  Not happy.  Terrible service – forgot about my food completely.  Ironically, when it did arrive, it was quite tasty…

To Pinacoteca Martinengo.  We’re practically the only visitors, of course.  A room with some great frescoes – one with a huge, shaggy dog.  Another room, with two Raphaels – real ones.  Weird pic by Moretto – Last Supper.  Christ has a hippy hat with badges, and a shell pinned on the left shoulder. Pilgrim symbols, apparently. The maid is carrying a dish of what looks like roast monkey, and none too fresh.  Striking pic of Christ and Veronica, with lots of soldiers looking fearful.  By Il Cariani.  

Christ and Veronica, by Il Cariani

Into a big hall, walls covered in blood-red cloth (other rooms were a glorious cobalt blue).  Fab pic by Moretto of nativity scene - very grand, very effective.  With a triplet of angels floating above, holding a scroll: “deus homo factus est”.  Like the three boys in the Magic Flute.  A smaller Moretto of the passion of Christ: him grey and resigned, the angel convincingly distraught.

A melancholy beggar

A six-string double bass from 1610, majolica.  Two paintings by the Anguissola sisters, the one by Sofonisba very fine.  A room full of pix by Giacomo Ceruti, also known as Pitocchetto – scenes of popular life.  Two beggars in a wood – haunting gaze of a blind (?) beggar.  Another of a seated beggar, gazing with infinite sadness…

Abraham and Isaac

Amazing sculpture of Abraham and Isaac, copy of Simon Troger, in wood and ivory.  Brilliant use of vertical forms to capture the angel’s intervention.  Unusual meeting of Jacob and Esau by Francesco Hayez (1844).  Like one by Holman Hunt…  Beautiful marble version of Laocoön and his sons by Luigi Ferrari.  

Laocoön and his sons

To the Santa Giulia museum, big, modern inside – and with aircon.  Some fine bronze heads found on the Roman site – Messerschmidt, but not screaming.  Amazing excavations under the Santa Giulia monastery – a house with extensive frescoes.  Beautiful, an almost complete mosaic of Bacchus and his pards (just one).  This domus only discovered in 1967.  Too much to see here, in one of the best museums of its kind that I have visited.  We leave, delighted and exhausted.

Roman heads, not screaming

Now tanking up with coffee and carbs before the drive back after a great day.  Brixia/Brescia is just fab.

More destinations:

1987 Italy

1988 Venice

1992 Padua, Venice

1993 Urbino

1994 Venice 

1994 Bari

1994 Rome 
1994 Trieste, Ljubljana 

1995 Siena, Bagno Vignoni, Pienza

1996 Torino

1998 Elba 

1998 Modena 
1999 Weimar, Venice

2024 Ravenna - with photos

Moody's Black Notebook Travels

2024 Ravenna

Basilica of San Vitale

7.8.24

Sitting inside the astonishing Basilica of San Vitale.  This place - Ravenna - is for me not so much a unique collection of late Roman/early Christian art, as a personal reproach.  Although I vaguely knew of Ravenna, and that it contained some interesting art and buildings, I simply had no idea of just how great that art was.  It is almost unbelievable for me that this is the first time I have been here, given its importance.  And I arrived here only circuitously.  Studying Turkish, I have naturally explored the country’s greatest city - Constantinople/Istanbul. That, in its turn, sparked my interest in the Byzantine world - something that I have rather ignored (bad me).  And Byzantium and its history leads to the two Roman empires: east, centred in Constantinople, and west, in Ravenna.  

I therefore belatedly discover about Galla Placidia, Theodoric the Great - and his particular Goths (I knew about the latter in general, obviously).  And the unique fusion of Roman/Byzantine/Germanic cultures.  One result of that is the Gothic bible of Bishop Wulfilas, which I bought 40 years ago, and have sitting on my bookshelves (and now available online).  It’s our earliest major source of the Germanic languages.  The other result - obscured to me until now - are these buildings.

From the outside, the unusual octagonal shape of San Vitale makes it clear that this is something different.  The first steps into the interior space reveal a surprisingly high dome - I had not expected it to be so physically big - and the jarring baroque frescoes there.  But turn to the presbytery, and everything is redeemed.  Golden mosaics gleam everywhere, and the colours are as fresh as if they were made yesterday.  I realise belatedly that this is why mosaics are better than frescoes when it comes to ancient art: they fade more slowly.  With these mosaics we can see what the creators intended, not some pale shadow of their vision.

Apse of San Vitale

A striking beardless Christ in the apse, looking very young.   At the other end of the presbytery, an arch of apostles and saints, plus a reassuringly hairy Jesus.  But for me, the most gobsmackingly interesting are the mosaic panels on the apse side walls.

Mosaic depicting Emperor Justinian

Mosaic depicting Empress Theodora

The one of Justinian - another name I knew vaguely, without fully grasping his importance - shows a man who commands.   No mere stylisation, but a real portrait, enhanced again by its colours preserved in stone. To his side, soldiers and the church, two pillars of his power.  Then on the other side an even more miraculous and unprecedented image, of Theodora.   To say that she was an incredible woman is an understatement. Rising from less than nothing - probably a prostitute - she not only became empress of the late Roman empire, but a great one.  And her imposing image here reflects that.  As well as her women attendants, there is a fountain, a cupola, and rich hanging cloths.  And once again, the face that looks out at us, 1500 years later, is a real person, an astonishing woman.

Mausoleum of Galla Placida

In the so-called Mausoleum of Galla Placidia - very hot, sweaty and airless - reminds me of when I was inside the great pyramid of Khufu - no ventilation there, either.  According to the (very efficient) online booking system, there are only supposed to be 20 people visiting the tiny building of the mausoleum at a time. But this being Italy, nobody really bothers with counting. As a result, the air is thick with old breaths. Beautiful ceilings - the intense blue, preserved through 15 centuries.  Also interesting the alabaster windows - obvious material to use if you don’t have big glass panes.

Mosaic of San Lorenzo in Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

The mosaic of San Lorenzo (possibly, experts differ on who it is) - touching to see the little library of the new testament books to the left.  Lots of animals, flowers, Knossos-like motifs along the bottom of the mosaics.  The Garden of Eden in the vault by the door - amazingly abstract, amazingly beautiful.

Flooded crypt in Basilica San Francesco

Passing through the centre of Ravenna - a lovely city - to here, the Basilica of San Francesco, originally built in 450.  The midday bell tolls solemnly.  The main interest here is what seems to be a cistern, located under the altar.  Tiny, with goldfish/carp swimming over the submerged mosaics.  Reminds me of the rather grander cistern in Istanbul.  Ah, apparently not a cistern, but a flooded crypt.  Perhaps like the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, whose floor was raised nearly two metres to stay above the creeping ground waters.

Baptistery of Neon

In the baptistery of Neon.  Striking ceiling, with an aquatic Jesus rendered partially underwater through lighter mosaic stones.  Very varied portraits surrounding the central roundel.  Hot and humid here too…

In the covered market for lunch.  Like many other cities - Bilbao, Valencia etc. - these modern conversions of old buildings can be really good.  This looks tasteful, and is, above all, cool…  Ordered  cappelletti all’uso di Romagno al ragu rosso Morabrada - very intense, very good…

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo with effaced mosaics

Back out into the humid heat.  Alas, the Arian baptistery is closed - no repeat of that beardless Jesus for us.  To the basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo.  A church built on the orders of Theodoric himself.  Sadly, his Arian beliefs, widely adopted among the Germanic tribes, but later deemed heretical, meant he and other bits were expunged, covered or replaced with dull mosaic coverings.  All that can be seen are a few impetrational hands overlapping columns, like last ghostly vestiges of those sinking below the gold. Impressive, though, that the basic structure and design of this church are 1500 years old… As we leave, there is a mosaic of Classis high on the wall - once a port, now marooned miles from the sea. It’s where we will head for on our way back to the autostrada later this afternoon.

Theodoric Mausoleum

To the astounding Theodoric Mausoleum - much bigger than I thought.  Massive, and not just the 230-tonne stone bloack that forms the roof.  And with weird other-worldly patterns - not classical, but Gothic, presumably.  Overall this seems something from another civilisation, another planet…

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare, in Classe

Out to the other basilica of Sant'Apollinare, in Classe, now a village.  Wonderful to see this great church amidst the fields, not hemmed in by other buildings.  Simple inside, but spacious.  The eyes inevitably led to the apse and its great mosaic showing Sant'Apollinare in a paradise of green grass, populated by sheep, plants, trees, a huge cross shimmery over him, two saints on either side of it, and - rather spookily - the hand of god reaching down from the highest heaven.

Capella Palatina, Palermo

Monreale cathedral, Palermo

Of course, all these magnificent mosaics make me think of the Capella Palatina in Palermo, and the nearby Monreale cathedral, both of which I saw at the beginning of the year.  Those are in many ways more dramatic, but these in Ravenna come from around six hundred years earlier, making their survival even more miraculous.  And the simple, striking fact that the 1500-year-old colours are so vibrant - like the glorious green of this church - is for me Ravenna’s most unexpected and most unforgettable gift.

More destinations:

1987 Italy

1988 Venice

1993 Urbino

1994 Rome

1994 Trieste, Ljubljana 

1995 Siena, Bagno Vignoni, Pienza

1996 Torino

1998 Elba 

1998 Modena

Moody's Black Notebook Travels