Discover Calmaggiore

The defining feature is the continuous portico along both sides, carrying the upper floors on columns and arches so that the shopfronts sit in permanent shade and the pavement is covered end to end.

Because the arcade occupies the ground floor, the decorated facades begin one storey up. That is where the frescoes are: faded reds, ochres and geometric bands, with occasional figures, surviving in patches wherever weather and bombing spared them.

The street is narrow and slightly curved, so the cathedral's portico appears at the far end only as you approach rather than framing the view from the start.