Category: Lombardy
The Roman villa of Desenzano del Garda

The picturesque town of Desenzano on the shores of Lake Garda once had an imposing Roman villa. Like all Roman villas, this villa was primarily an agricultural estate. The part where the buildings related to agricultural production must have stood has not been excavated. The residential part has, although the…
Lombardy: San Martino della Battaglia
Lombardy: Solferino
Cremona: Sant’Agata

The conspicuous neo-classicist façade of the church of Sant’Agata will lead many visitors to conclude that the church was built fairly recently. It was not. Construction of the church started as early as 1077, some thirty years before that of the Duomo of Cremona. In 1223 the Sant’Agata was thoroughly…
Cremona: Museo Civico ‘Ala Ponzone’
Cremona: Sant’Agostino
Cremona: The Baptistery

The beautiful octagonal Baptistery of Cremona can be found next to the cathedral, on the south side of the Piazza del Comune. Construction of the building started in the year 1167 under the direction of an unknown architect. The design is sometimes attributed to a certain Teodosio Orlandino, but there…
Cremona: The Duomo

The Duomo of Cremona, also known as the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, is undoubtedly the most famous building of the city. Almost every person living in the Netherlands knows it, if only because the cathedral and adjacent Baptistery feature prominently in a De’Longhi coffee commercial. The setting of the…