Brescia — the Roman-Venetian city with the best museum nobody's heard of

Brescia was Italian Capital of Culture 2023, and nobody outside Italy noticed. Their loss. The Santa Giulia Museum (€8, UNESCO) is built inside a Lombard monastery and contains: a Roman domus with intact mosaic floors, a Lombard cross studded with gems, and the Winged Victory — a 1st-century bronze that's Italy's answer to the Nike of Samothrace. The Capitolium (73 AD) is the best-preserved Roman temple in northern Italy, sitting casually in a piazza where locals drink aperitivo. Brescia is 20 minutes from the Franciacorta wine region — Italy's answer to Champagne, producing method-traditional sparkling wine that rivals it at 1/3 the price (€12-30/bottle vs €40-100 for comparable Champagne). Milan: 1h train. Lake Garda: 30 min. Verona: 40 min. Bergamo: 50 min. Brescia connects everything and charges nothing for the privilege.