BRESCIA, bre'sha (Latin, Brixia), Italy, an episcopal city of Lombardy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, 40 miles northwest of Verona, on a fertile and beautiful plain on the banks of the rivers Mella and Garza. It is the capital of the province of the same name and is a handsome and flourishing city, of a square form, about four miles in circuit, and sur rounded by walls. Its streets are spacious and its public buildings numerous, particularly its churches, which are further remarkable for the number and value of the paintings with which they are enriched. A few of them only, how ever, have much pretension to architectural beauty; among those that have are the cathe dral, a handsome structure of white marble; and the church of San Domenico. But, how ever plain in exterior appearance most of the Brescian churches may be, they are all richly decorated within with the most beautiful fres coes and other creations of taste and art. The other buildings most worthy of notice are the Palazzo della Logia and the Broletto. The first was intended for the palace of the munici pality or city hall. It is composed of the rich est marbles and was worked upon by the first architects of the 15th and 16th centuries suc cessively. The Broletto, the ancient palace of the republic, combines the characters of for tress and city hall, and is surmounted by a great tower, whose deeply cleft Italian battle ments produce a singularly grand effect. The whole is in a colossal style and marked by the peculiar characteristics of the age in which it rose — supposed to be about the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century. The city contains also a lyceum, two gymnasia, an athe nnum, a college, with a museum of antiquities, and a botanic garden; a public library, with 30,000 volumes; a theological seminary, a hand some theatre, a corn exchange, an extensive hospital and other educational and charitable establishments. There are 72 Rublic fountains in the streets and squares, besides some hun dreds of private ones. Outside the is a cemetery, begun in 1815, designed by Vantini.
Brescia is a place of considerable trade and manufacturing industry. Near it are large iron works and its firearms are esteemed the best that are made in Italy. It has also silk, linen
and paper factories, tan-yards and oil-mills, and is an important mart for raw silk. But it de rives its greatest interest from its fine Roman remains, having been at one time the seat of a Roman colony. These first attracted attention in the 17th century, although, so far as regards inscriptions, they had been objects of especial care to the citizens of Brescia for two centuries before this period, but it was not till 1820 that any very earnest efforts were made to bring the buried remains of entire buildings to light. Since that period some remarkable discoveries have been made, embracing, besides numerous statues and inscriptions, the beautiful marble temple of Vespasian and a number of noble and magnificent Corinthian columns, with many fragments of moldings and ornaments, some gilt and all of great elegance. Brescia was the seat of a school of painting of great merit, to which many eminent artists belonged, includ ing Alessandro Bonvicino, commonly called ((II who flourished in the 16th century and was remarkable for the deep devotional feeling which he threw into his sacred subjects, as well as for his excellence as a portrait painter. The city is of great antiquity, having been the chief town of the Cenomani, a Gallic tribe, who were conquered by the Romans. It became the seat of a Roman colony under Au gustus about 15 ILE., and afterward a munici pium. In the year 412 it was burned by the Goths and was soon afterward destroyed by Attila, but was rebuilt about the year 452. It was taken by Charlemagne in 774. In 936 Otho I of Saxony declared it a free city, and it so remained for nearly three centuries, taking an active part in the feuds of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, and ultimately put itself under the protection of Venice in 1426. In 1796 it was taken by the French and was assigned to Aus tria by the general treaty signed at Vienna 9 June 1815. In 1849 it was involved in the com motions of continental Europe; its streets were barricaded but the city was eventually captured by the Austrians under General Haynau. It was ceded to Sardinia by the Treaty of Zurich in 1859, and in 1860, with the remainder of Lombardy, it was added to the kingdom of Italy. Pop. 83,338.