Bergamo

Piazza Vecchia represents the core of Città Alta: it has been the heart of political power for centuries and it keeps being one of the most popular places for Bergamo’s citizens to spend some time with friends. 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 city by the chief magistrate Alvise Contarini in 1780, while on the opposite side of Piazza Vecchia you can see the Palazzo Nuovo (“New Palace”), which served as Bergamo’s Town Hall until 1873 and is today the seat of the Angelo Mai Library. The geometrical layout of the buildings around the square is so harmonic that when Le Corbusier visited Bergamo he said “you can’t move a single stone, it would be a crime”

Bergamo wouldn’t be the same without its impressive Venetian Walls. This spectacular circuit is over six km long: it’s the perfect place to take a romantic walk and enjoy wonderful sunsets, and it has been enclosing the beauties of the Upper Town for more than four centuries. The Walls’ priceless artistic and cultural value is also confirmed by their candidacy to become a Unesco World Heritage, a path taken in 2007 that has finally got to its final stage. They were built starting from 1561 by the Republic of Venice in order to face enemies attacks, but History was kind with them: maybe due to their stunning beauty, they never underwent any siege. That is why they remained almost intact to the present day. The Walls consist of 14 bastions, 2 platforms, 100 embrasures for cannons, 2 armouries, four gates, not to mention the underground structures featuring sallies, passages and tunnels: don’t miss the chance to walk inside the Walls and to visit the casemates of San Michele and San Giovanni!

Leave time for a walk in the modern centre – the large area around piazza Vittorio Veneto – which was planned during the early 20th century, by the architect Marcello Piacentini, and is a very interesting example of town planning.

The Basilica (built in 1137) is the most remarkable religious building in the city. It also hosts the Donizetti’s grave. The Colleoni Chapel is a masterpiece of the Lombard Renaissance.

After exemplary restoration work was carried out, the Teatro Sociale reopened to the public in the spring of 2009 – two century after its inauguration in 1808 – with a rich calendar of shows.

The famous composer Donizetti was born in Bergamo, and lived there from 1806 to 1815. An opera festival is dedicated to him and it takes place at the Donizetti Theater in Bergamo every year from September to December.

This is a museum set up in honour of opera composer Gaetano Donizetti. The archive at the museum stores, among many things, original printed editions of books, valuable iconographic collection and various relics.

The Pope John XXIII, proclaimed Saint on April 27th, 2014 came from Sotto il Monte, a town 18 km far from Bergamo. The beloved places of the Pope are within a short distance: his birth-house, the Church of Santa Maria in Brusicco, where he was baptized, his summer-residence Cà Maitino, now transformed into a museum, the parish church, the Garden of Peace and the parish crypt.

Crespi d'Adda is a unique example of industrial architecture that has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The village consisted of a factory (a cotton mill), the castle of the owner, worker's houses, a cemetery, a wash house and a church: it is a XIX century village, built by the Crespi family of industrialists.