Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
just 16 rooms carved out of a medieval building, which combine warmth in the decor with
contemporary design in the bathrooms.
Osteria al Bianchi
( 030 29 23 28;
www.osteriaalbianchi.it
;
Via Gasparo da Salò 32; meals €20-25; 9am-2pm &
4.30pm-midnight Thu-Mon)
Crowd inside this classic old bar and be tempted by the
pappar-
delle al Taleggio e zucca
(broad ribbon pasta with Taleggio cheese and pumpkin), fol-
lowed by anything from
brasato d'asino
(braised donkey) to local speciality
pestöm
(minced pork meat served with polenta).
OSTERIA
€
Information
Info Point
( 030 240 03 57;
www.bresciatourism.it
; Via Trieste 1; 9.30am-1pm & 1.30-5.30pm)
The city's main tourist office. There's another, smaller Info Point
(
030 837 85 59; Piazzale
Stazione)
at the station.
Getting There & Around
Bus Station
( 030 4 49 15; Via Solferino)
SAIA Trasporti
( 800 883999, 030 288 99 11;
www.saiatrasporti.it
)
serves destinations throughout the province including Desenzano del
Garda and Mantua. Some leave from another station off Via della Stazione.
Train Station
( 030 4 41 08; Viale della Stazione 7)
Situated on the Milan-Venice line, with
regular services to Milan (€7 to €20.50, 45 minutes to 1¼ hours) and Verona (€6.25, 40
minutes). There are also secondary lines to Cremona and Bergamo.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Mantua
POP 46,600
As serene as the three lakes it sits beside, Mantua is home to sumptuous ducal palaces and
a string of atmospheric, cobbled squares. Settled by the Etruscans in the 10th century,
Mantua and its surrounding farmland has long been prosperous. The Latin poet Virgil was
born just outside the modern town in 70 BC, Shakespeare's Romeo heard of Juliet's death
here and Verdi set his tragic 19th-century opera,
Rigoletto
, in Mantua's melancholy
streets. In 1328 the city fell to the fast-living, art loving Gonzaga dynasty, under whose
rule it flourished until the Austrians seized control in 1708. Even now, and despite a wor-
