Tradition, art, and faith: during the Easter period the province of Brescia is a treasure trove of surprises and stages a Via Crucis.
A rare viewing in Brescia’s Rotonda circular church
This is a region with lakes, mountains, rolling hills and the slow flowing Oglio river and, on Friday 22 March in the Romanesque Duomo Vecchio or Rotonda in Brescia (among the few circular churches in Italy), visitors will have a rare opportunity to admire the Treasure of the Holy Crosses.
A Via Crucis in the Valle Camonica valley
The Easter period is an ideal time to admire masterpieces of art and faith linked to the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ. Among the many that the province of Brescia can offer, the Sanctuary of Via Crucis, which is next to the parish church in the small village of Cerveno, in the Valle Camonica valley, is part of the Lombard-Piedmontese tradition of the Sacred Mountains with a Via Crucis. The 14 chapels of the Via Crucis are arranged along a stepped corridor which culminates at the top with the Chapel of the Deposition. Every ten years, in May, the inhabitants of Cerveno stage “Santa Crus,” a living representation of the Passion with over 100 participants, inspired by the characters of Beniamino Simoni's sculptures. 
The props and clothes used in the event can be seen in the Civic Museum
This year it will be held from 26 May to 2 June, in the historic centre and in the countryside around the town. This event is not linked to the rites of Easter, but to 3 May, the day on which the calendar, before the ecclesiastical reform, marked the discovery of the Holy Cross. Videos and photos, props and the clothes used during the event can be viewed at the Civic Museum, where there is also an ethnographic collection that reconstructs the experiences of the Camunian people.
