If it hadn’t been for wanting to get hold of a Lombardy card for entry into museums round here, we might not have visited Brescia. Walking from the train station we found the town dull, but the piazzas and streets did improve as we walked further towards the old part of the city.
The museum of Santa Giulia, the main museum in the region, awarded ‘outstanding’ by the Rough Guide, was empty apart from us and the abundant numbers of staff always present in the museums we have been to in Italy. (Not content with watching you from afar, they sometimes follow you from room to room, up and down stairs).
Some museums (particularly the ‘house museums) have been excellent, but often exhibits are displayed with either too little explanation, or a huge block of writing which means nothing (Italians call this ‘fried air’). Do the curators ever wonder why there aren’t more visitors?
A walk up to the Castle afterwards awarded good views of the city.
Brescia is the home of the Mille Miglia, the historic car race I wrote about from Bologna. We couldn’t be so close and not visit the museum, which is what we did yesterday.
The museum, in contrast to the city museum, was excellent and even I, who knows little about cars, and understands less, found it fascinating. There is a display of cars that have participated in the race and lots of interesting facts. Included in your ticket is a tablet on which you can find short videos about what you are seeing.
Unfortunately for my blog, photos were not allowed (I don’t know why as there is nothing to stop you taking pictures of the cars out on the roads).
Interesting fact no 1: During the Second World War, due to a shortage of petrol, distilled beetroot was added to petrol by unscrupulous suppliers. This led to the creation of petrol pumps with a glass ‘pipe’ so consumers could check on the purity of the fuel as they were filling up.
Interesting fact no 2: Stirling Moss holds the record for completing the Mille Miglia circuit in the fastest time (in 1955). He is the only winner of the Mille Miglia still alive.
As gripping as the museum was, I’m afraid I can’t recall any more, but I did achieve 5 out of 10 in the quiz at the end, which I was pretty pleased with.
Tortoise Travel 