From MetroBS San Faustino to Villaggio Prealpino

This walk follows the northern edge of the city, never straying far from Mount Maddalena. You start from MetroBS San Faustino, in the heart of a lively, authentic city, and gently climb, always staying close to the green slopes of our “home” mountain.

You’re not yet in the woods, but you can feel them nearby. You skirt the outcrop of the Monastero della Visitazione, cross Costalunga with its wide, quiet valley, and continue along a line that traces the boundary between urbanisation and nature. A strip of green accompanies you as it resists between roads, neighbourhoods and hills: a landscape in balance, where countryside and city still brush against each other.

You emerge near Valle di Mompiano, a surprising area for anyone who thinks Brescia is only concrete. Fields, old rural tracks, the former powder magazine, the Garza stream to cross. And then, again, the fringes of Colle San Giuseppe, until you reach Villaggio Prealpino: where the city almost ends, but the green continues.

This is not a mountain trail. It’s an urban trek with a soul, made of gentle transitions, where you can choose whether to stay in the city or venture up one of the many access points leading to the Maddalena paths. And for part of the way, your steps follow those of the Cammino delle Sorelle, created in 2023 to celebrate Brescia and Bergamo as Capitals of Culture. A perfect symbol: intertwined stories, cities that meet, hills that don’t divide, but unite.

Patrick Tuttofuoco, Gothic Minerva. San Faustino: where the metro becomes museum #1.

A dive into history with eyes wide open. In the San Faustino metro station, Patrick Tuttofuoco has dug into Brescia’s memory and turned it into light. Two ancient faces – Minerva and the emperor Claudius II “the Gothic” – emerge from the past and intertwine with the forms of a Corinthian capital, all in hand-blown neon. Three layers of lines and colours telling the story of what the city has beneath its feet: strata of time, identity, beauty. A work to walk through, not just to look at.

Land art in Valle di Mompiano – installations among trees, earth and silence.

In Valle di Mompiano you don’t look at art from a distance – you meet it as you walk. Camouflaged artworks and interventions in the landscape created by the Gnari de Mompià association. No ticket, just nature and curious eyes.

Where the lawn isn’t “tidy” – it’s in balance.

In Parco Lussignoli you’ll find a small “arboretum” with trees typical of the Brescian hills. But the real surprise is in the western flowerbed: no perfect cuts, no grass mown every week. It’s only cut twice a year. The result? More wildflowers, more pollinating insects, more water retained in the soil and less carbon released. It looks messy. It’s simply smarter.

Start at MetroBS San Faustino. You can return via MetroBS Prealpino or MetroBS Marconi. For other intermediate options, bus lines 10 and 15 are available.