Bergamo Photo: leoks/Shutterstock.com In the Alpine foothills, just 50 km from Milan, Bergamo is the most striking city in Lombardy. Structured in two levels, the lower city is more modern and dynamic, whilst the famous ‘upper city’ boasts a stunning historic centre full of monuments and works of art. In the area around the city the Iseo Lake is well worth a visit, as is the sanctuary at Caravaggio and Crespi d’Adda – the most important company town in Italy, listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO. Viacheslav Lopatin/Shutterstock.com Top 5 Piazza Vecchia Piazza Vecchia represents the core of Città Alta: it has been the heart of p... The Venetian Walls Bergamo wouldn’t be the same without its impressive Venetian Walls. This spe... City Centre - Lower Town michelangeloop/Shutterstock.com Leave time for a walk in the modern centre – the large area around piazza Vi... Basilica of Santa Maria Ma... The Basilica (built in 1137) is the most remarkable religious building in th... Accademia Carrara This gallery hosts one of the richest collections in Italy with around 2,000... Englishrose/Shutterstock.com Updated 21 March 2019 Destination: Bergamo Publishing date: 2019-03-21 THE CITY DO & SEE Matteo Ceruti/Shutterstock.com Gambarini Gianandrea/Shutterstock.com Bergamo is one of the richest and most elegant Bergamo is the perfect city to enjoy a nice cities in Italy. The splendour of the city is in weekend or a longer stay. Just walking around large part thanks to the domination of Venice, the city center and nding a nice café to enjoy a who ruled the city from the beginning of the 15th good cup of coee is relaxing itself. If you century until the end of the 18th century. The however are interested in one of the many Venetians also constructed the city walls around galleries, then Galleria d´Arte Moderna e the centre. Contemporanea and Accademia Carrara is worth paying a visit to. If you love culture, you have The upper city is easy to reach with the funicolar come to the right city! railway – and its main square – the Piazza Vecchia – hosts the most important religious and Piazza Vecchia civic buildings as well as forming the focus for Piazza Vecchia represents most of the main commercial and historic the core of Città Alta: it streets. Another funicolar railway – built in the has been the heart of beginning of the 20th century – leads up to the political power for San Vigilio hill, from which you can enjoy a centuries and it keeps marvellous view of the city and the Lombard being one of the most plain. The heart of the city lies in the less tourist popular places for Bergamo’s citizens to spend lower town, where 18th- and 19th-century some time with friends. buildings are grouped in a semi-circle around the city’s hill. Beauty is all around you if you have a seat at one of the square’s restaurants or cafes, having a drink, breakfast or even a romantic dinner. You can admire the building called “Palazzo della Ragione”, the oldest municipal seat in Lombardy, as well as the Torre Civica, a bell tower also called “Campanone”. In the middle of the square is located the Contarini Fountain, which was donated to the Destination: Bergamo Publishing date: 2019-03-21 city by the chief magistrate Alvise Contarini in structures featuring sallies, passages and 1780, while on the opposite side of Piazza tunnels: don’t miss the chance to walk inside the Vecchia you can see the Palazzo Nuovo (“New Walls and to visit the casemates of San Michele Palace”), which served as Bergamo’s Town Hall and San Giovanni! until 1873 and is today the seat of the Angelo Mai Library. Photo: Matteo Ceruti/Shutterstock.com Address: Viale delle Mura, Bergamo The geometrical layout of the buildings around City Centre - Lower Town the square is so harmonic that when Le Leave time for a walk in Corbusier visited Bergamo he said “you can’t the modern centre – the move a single stone, it would be a crime” large area around piazza Vittorio Veneto – which Photo: Bestravelvideo/Shutterstock.com was planned during the The Venetian Walls early 20th century, by the Bergamo wouldn’t be the architect Marcello Piacentini, and is a very same without its interesting example of town planning. impressive Venetian Photo: Matteo Ceruti/Shutterstock.com Walls. This spectacular circuit is over six km Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and Colleoni long: it’s the perfect Chapel place to take a romantic walk and enjoy The Basilica (built in wonderful sunsets, and it has been enclosing the 1137) is the most beauties of the Upper Town for more than four remarkable religious centuries. building in the city. It also hosts the Donizetti’s The Walls’ priceless artistic and cultural value is grave. The Colleoni also conrmed by their candidacy to become a Chapel is a masterpiece of the Lombard Unesco World Heritage, a path taken in 2007 Renaissance. that has nally got to its nal stage. Photo: jackbolla/Shutterstock.com They were built starting from 1561 by the Address: Piazza Duomo, Bergamo Internet: www.fondazionemia.it Republic of Venice in order to face enemies attacks, but History was kind with them: maybe Accademia Carrara due to their stunning beauty, they never This gallery hosts one of underwent any siege. That is why they remained the richest collections in almost intact to the present day. Italy with around 2,000 paintings from the 15th The Walls consist of 14 bastions, 2 platforms, to the 18th century. The 100 embrasures for cannons, 2 armouries, four Accademia Carrara will gates, not to mention the underground remain closed for renovation work until the Destination: Bergamo Publishing date: 2019-03-21 2015, but a selection of the works are on display Photo: Matteo Ceruti/Shutterstock.com in the Palazzo della Ragione building in Upper Address: Piazza Vecchia, 8A, Bergamo Phone: +39 035 247116 town. Internet: www.museodellestorie.bergamo.it Photo: Syda Productions/Shutterstock.com Duomo Address: Piazza Giacomo Carrara, 82, Bergamo Opening hours: Wed-Mon 09.30-17.30 The Cathedral (started in Phone: +39 035 234396 1459) is dedicated to Internet: www.accademiacarrara.bergamo.it Saint Alessandro, the Patron of the city. In the Cittadella Bergamo Cathedral, the This is also a fortied chapel to the right of the building which hosts the high altar is dedicated to the memory of Saint Natural Sciences John XXIII. See also the nearby Baptistery. Museum and the Archeological Museum. Photo: elRoce/Shutterstock.com Each museum oers Address: Piazza Duomo, Bergamo guided tours and educational activities. Phone: +39 035 210223 Internet: www.cattedraledibergamo.it +39 035 286 011 (Natural Sciences) GAMeC - Modern and Contemporary Art Tel: +39 035 242 839 (Archeological) Gallery GAMeC – Modern and Photo: Iakov Filimonov/Shutterstock.com Contemporary Art Gallery Address: Piazza Cittadella, 10, Bergamo Internet: www.museoscienzebergamo.it / of Bergamo (Galleria di www.museoarcheologicobergamo.it Arte Moderna e Contemporanea) was Civic Tower (Campanone - Big Bell) and founded in 1991. The Palazzo del Podestà building it is housed in was formerly a convent A symbol of the medieval built in the fteenth century that has been city, the 52-metre high completely renovated. The purpose underlying Civic Tower oers the creation of GAMeC, which is partnered by splendid views over the Accademia Carrara and the Accademia Upper and Lower Carrara di Belle Arti, was to form a pole in the Bergamo. The Civic city dedicated to art. Tower bell sounds over 100 times at 10 pm every evening to signal the old curfew when the gates Photo: Nataliya Sdobnikova/Shutterstock.com of the city were closed. Address: Via San Tomaso, 53, Bergamo Originally the residence of the Suardi-Colleoni Opening hours: Wed-Mon 10.00-18.00 Phone: +39 035 270272 families, the Palazzo del Podestà was the seat of Internet: www.gamec.it the Podestà (Chief magistrate or Governor) from Email: [email protected] the 12th to the 15th century. Today it hosts the History Museum of Veneto Age. Destination: Bergamo Publishing date: 2019-03-21 Rocca Teatro Sociale Fortied building which After exemplary hosts the Museum of restoration work was History IX century. You carried out, the Teatro can buy a museum card Sociale reopened to the which includes the visit at public in the spring of Museo Donizettiano, 2009 – two century after Museum of history XVII century (Rocca), its inauguration in 1808 – with a rich calendar of Historical Museum (former S. Francesco shows. cloister), Campanone and Museum of the Veneto Age (Palazzo del Podestà). Photo: Matusciac Alexandru/Shutterstock.com Address: Via Bartolomeo Colleoni, 4, Bergamo Photo: Matteo Ceruti/Shutterstock.com Phone: +39 035 416 0601 Address: Via Alla Rocca, Bergamo Internet: Phone: +39 035 242226 www.teatrodonizetti.it/en/the-history-of-social-theatre Historical Museum and Ex S. Francesco Gaetano Donizetti’s Birthplace Cloister The famous composer Bergamo Historical Donizetti was born in Museum is settled in the Bergamo, and lived there fascinating ex San from 1806 to 1815. An Francesco cloister. The opera festival is exhibition includes dedicated to him and it reconstructions of takes place at the Donizetti Theater in Bergamo settings, multimedia stations and movable every year from September to December. explanatory sheets. Photo: Vitaly Batanov/Shutterstock.com Photo: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com Address: Via Borgo Canale, 14, Bergamo Address: Piazza Mercato del Fieno, 6/A, Bergamo Opening hours: Sat-Sun 10.00-13.00; 15.00-18.00 Phone: +39 035 247116 Phone: +39 035 244483 Internet: www.museodellestorie.bergamo.it Internet: www.donizetti.org San Vigilio Donizetti’s Museum The castle of San Vigilio, This is a museum set up once part of the ancient in honour of opera fortication, oers one of composer Gaetano the most suggestive views Donizetti.