Museo Diocesano of Brescia

Just a short walk from Piazza Loggia, the Diocesan Museum of Brescia is an artistic treasure trove. Housed within a stunning 16th-century building, it includes a highly valued collection of liturgical garments, among the most important in Italy.

Visitors are welcomed into the large main cloister, a charming place with a beautiful cherry tree in the middle.

Museo Diocesano collections: from painting to liturgical fabrics

The second floor of Museo Diocesano is  home to prestigious permanent collections divided into four sections: painting and sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, sacred jewellery, and liturgical fabrics.

The paintings include masterpieces such as Madonna and Child by Paolo Veneziano, St Orsola Polyptychby Antonio Vivarini, and beautiful works by Romanino, Moretto, Tintoretto, and Tiepolo. This artistic journey spans five hundred years – from the 14th to the 18th centuries – showcasing the most celebrated Brescian and Venetian artists of their time.

The museum also displays sacred jewellery from the second half of the 15th century and illuminated manuscripts dating back to the 12th century, invaluable artifacts including the small book of Rules of the confraternity of Saints Faustino and Giovita di Collio.

There is also an enormously important collection of liturgical fabrics opened in 2007, which includes around 100 precious garments of predominantly Venetian and French weaves and with magnificent examples of the art of embroidery.

The permanent collection of the Museo Diocesano has recently been completely renewed. The museum now displays 200 works selected from the more than 2,000 in storage, organised in 23 revamped rooms with new lighting. An integral part of the exhibition tour is the outside arcade, from which visitors get a glimpse of the Torre del Pegol and the dome of the cathedral. The exhibit is also increasingly multi-sensory.

For full details, visit the official website of Museo Diocesano.

Permanent tour for the visually impaired

The Museo Diocesano di Brescia is a firm advocate of accessibility and inclusivity for people with sensory difficulties and has installed the new permanent guided tour for the visually impaired and the dark multi-sensory room Nella bottega del Moretto (Moretto’s Workshop), both located on the second floor.

Organised in collaboration with UICI – Italian Union for the Blind and Visually Impaired – and sponsored by BPER Banca, the project involves a guided tour of representative works and objects, ending in a multi-sensory room open to everyone in which visitors learn about Moretto’s painting Virgin and Child in Glory, St John the Evangelist, the Blessed Lodovico Giustiniani and the Allegory of Divine Wisdom using all five senses. This canvas painted between 1520 and 1545 is one of the highlights of the collection of Museo Diocesano of Brescia.

For more details, click here.

Inauguration of the section dedicated to St Paul VI

In 2024, the museum opened a new section devoted entirely to St Paul VI!

The personality and work of the Brescian pope are narrated through unique and precious objects, such as the chasuble, the papal robe and zucchetto, the galero and episcopal ring, and a copy of the papal tiara.

Additional unmissable exhibits include the portrait by artist Francesco Bencivenga, the sketches by Raffaele Scorzelli of the monument to the pontiff erected in the Duomo Nuovo in Brescia, and the 16 gold medals from the Vatican Library minted during the sixteen years of his pontificate and created by artists such as Manzù, Bodini, and Fazzini.

Learn all about the new section dedicated to Pope Paul VI.

Reinstallation of the Last Supper by Franca Ghitti

The Museo Diocesano chose to pay tribute to Franca Ghitti (1932-2012), a local artist from Camonica Valley who is among the most highly valued of the second half of the twentieth century, by relocating the painting Last Supper (2010), considered the masterpiece of her artistic maturity.

Displayed in the room before the refectory, the work stands in comparison to the 17th-century fresco of the same theme preserved in this room, with its extraordinary geometric order and striking use of different elements and materials, including scraps of iron.

To find out more, click here.

Cultural events

The museum is used for exhibitions, educational activities and cultural events. We also recommend a visit to the Church of San Giuseppe, adjacent to the museum and now a beautiful venue for events and religious music concerts.

For information, visit the Museo Diocesano website.