Oltrebrescia: New Hospitality Circuit Merges Art, History and Spirituality in Brescia

The Diocese of Brescia has launched Oltrebrescia, a sustainable tourism circuit that repurposes four historic religious structures—an eremo, a monastery, a villa, and a palazzo—into hospitality venues without new construction. The Eremo di Montecastello in Tignale, dedicated to Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini (1927–2012) and frequented by Giovanni Battista Montini (later Pope Paul VI), sits on a rock spur above Lake Garda next to the Santuario della Madonna di Montecastello. It features Giottesque frescoes and Europe's largest ex voto by Giovanni Andrea Bertanza (early 17th century) depicting the bandit Zanazù's final moments. The Eremo di Bienno dei Santi Pietro e Paolo in Val Camonica occupies ruins of a Franciscan convent founded by Saint Anthony of Padua (1228–1230), with a 1931 statue of Christ the King by Timo Bortolotti commemorating the Lateran Pacts and WWI fallen. Villa Luzzago in Ponte di Legno, Alta Val Camonica, offers access to Adamello and Stelvio parks, with a mosaic by Don Giacomo Trombini and an altar by Maffeo Ferrari. The Centro Paolo VI in Brescia city center unites two patrician residences (Maggi and Gambara families), featuring an 18th-century staircase by Antonio Marchetti, decorations by Vittorio Trainini (1930), and a painting by Moretto (La Trinità incorona la vergine). The site is near UNESCO World Heritage sites: the Roman archaeological park Brixia and the San Salvatore–Santa Giulia complex (inscribed 2011).