Located at the edge of the Prealps 149 m. above sea level on flat ground at the mouth of Valtrompia, Brescia has the second largest population in Lombardy.
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It was an important chief town of the local Gauls, then a Roman municipium called Brixia. After the Barbarian invasions it became a free municipality (12th century) within the Lombard League.
From 1426, after the Pallavicini, Scaligeri, Torriani and Visconti Signorie, it went over to the Republic of Venice, remaining part of that until 1797, the year in which the Napoleonic Cisalpine Republic was declared. In 1814 Brescia became part of Lombard-Venetia under Hapsburg rule, from which it attempted in vain to break free under the leadership of Tito Speri, demonstrating admirable courage during the "Dieci Giornate di Brescia" - a last, desperate attempt at resistance. It is for this episode that the town is called "the Lioness of Italy". It was finally liberated in 1859.
