Around 1750, a Venetian painter set up his easel on Pirna's market square and captured it forever: Bernardo Bellotto, known as Canaletto, devoted eleven large canvases to this small town on the Elbe. The most astonishing part comes next: the square has barely changed. Boats travelling up the river between Dresden and Saxon Switzerland drop their passengers in a setting the 18th century would recognize at first glance.

Canaletto's square

Everything converges on the market square, ringed by Renaissance façades in shades of almond and honey. The town hall stands in the middle, isolated like a ship at anchor, its gables piling up five centuries of overlapping styles. Café terraces occupy the best seats; you settle in with a reproduction of the painting, sold in every shop, to play spot-the-difference between the canvas and reality. There are hardly any.

Lanes, vaults and dressed stone

Around the square, the lanes reveal carved portals, galleried courtyards and gilded trade signs. The shops cultivate Saxon craftsmanship, ceramics, turned wood and stationery, and the cafés serve Eierschecke, a layered cake whose recipe Saxony jealously guards. St. Mary's Church, a great Gothic hall church, surprises with its vaults painted with scrollwork above a bright, spacious interior; its tower offers the most energetic a view that sets the town back in its setting of hills. The Canalettohaus, the birthplace of the local masterpiece in a manner of speaking, houses the tourist office: a good starting point for a guided stroll.

Saxon Switzerland on the doorstep

Pirna presents itself as the gateway to Saxon Switzerland, and this is no figure of speech: upstream begin the sandstone cliffs that gave the Elbe massif its nickname. The star excursion leads to the Bastei, a rocky spur rising 194 metres above the river, linked by a stone bridge that spans the void between the pinnacles. You can get there by motorcoach or, more memorably, aboard the historic paddle steamers serving Rathen, from where a trail climbs to the lookout. Allow half a day and sturdy shoes; the panorama, for its part, asks for nothing. Photographers will aim for the morning, when mist still clings to the sandstone pinnacles.

Dresden close at hand

Twenty kilometres downstream, Dresden and its rebuilt domes await lovers of great museums; many itineraries include it the day before or the day after. Pirna then plays its best role: that of the intimate counterpoint, with no lineups or rows of motorcoaches, where Saxony can be admired at cobblestone level. Plum turnover in hand, you catch yourself preferring the small town to the capital, and you are not the first. Depending on the day, the morning market adds its cut flowers and vegetables from the Elbe farms to Bellotto's setting.

Port call tips

The old town, flat and compact, can be covered on foot in an hour of strolling; the climb up the tower or the excursion to the rocks require more stamina and time. Commuter trains also link the local station to Dresden in about twenty minutes for passengers in search of great museums. In fine weather, the paddle steamers offer the most beautiful approach to the cliffs; book early, as the decks fill up quickly.

What the painter knew

As the lines are cast off, you think back to Bellotto: of eleven canvases, not one exaggerates. The light skims the gables, the Elbe trails its reflections, and the hills close the scene. Some places need painters to become memorable; Pirna simply needs you to step off the boat. The painting does the rest, in real life.