Bergamo: Where Two Worlds Meet Above the Lombard Plains
The Ascent to Another Time
The funicular railway, installed in 1887, still carries visitors from Città Bassa to Città Alta, its red carriages climbing the hillside at a gentle angle. Through the windows, the lower town gradually recedes, its 19th and 20th-century buildings giving way to glimpses of what awaits above. The journey itself becomes a transition between eras, a mechanical time machine that has transported millions of travelers across not just vertical space but through history itself.
At the top, the Venetian walls—constructed between 1561 and 1588—immediately command attention. These massive fortifications, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stretch for over six kilometers around the upper town. Built by the Republic of Venice to protect its western territories, they have never been tested in battle. Instead, they've become promenades where locals walk their dogs at sunset and visitors pause to drink in panoramic views of the Lombard plains stretching toward Milan.
Things to do in Bergamo
Piazza Vecchia: The Heart of the Upper Town
Through the Porta San Giacomo, one of the four main gates in the Venetian walls, the old town reveals itself gradually. Narrow streets wind between buildings whose facades tell stories of different epochs—medieval foundations supporting Renaissance windows topped with Baroque flourishes. These lanes eventually open onto Piazza Vecchia, widely considered one of Italy's most beautiful squares.
The piazza was described by Le Corbusier as the "most beautiful square in Europe." His assessment, though subjective, captures something essential about this space. The Palazzo della Ragione, dating from the 12th century, dominates one side with its Venetian lion relief and open ground-floor arcade. Across from it, the white marble Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai contrasts sharply with the medieval stonework. The Campanone—the civic tower—rises above it all, its bells still marking the hours as they have for centuries, including the famous 100 strokes at 10 PM that once signaled the closing of the city gates.
Layers of Faith and Art
Adjacent to Piazza Vecchia, the Piazza del Duomo holds an extraordinary concentration of religious architecture. The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, begun in 1137, overwhelms with its interior richness. Baroque tapestries cover nearly every inch of wall space. Intarsia work by Lorenzo Lotto adorns the choir stalls, each panel a masterpiece of wood inlay depicting biblical scenes and everyday objects with stunning realism.
The Cappella Colleoni, attached to the basilica but accessed from outside, stands as a testament to Renaissance ambition. Commissioned by the condottiero Bartolomeo Colleoni as his funerary chapel, its polychrome marble facade explodes with color and detail. Inside, frescoes by Tiepolo cover the ceiling, while Colleoni's tomb, topped with a golden equestrian statue, occupies the center of the space.
A Living Upper Town
Despite its museum-like atmosphere, Città Alta remains a living neighborhood. Families have occupied the same apartments for generations. Small grocers and butchers conduct business much as their predecessors did. Students from the university's satellite campus hurry to lectures in buildings that once housed merchant guilds.
The Via Gombito, the main commercial street of the upper town, demonstrates this continuity. Medieval archways frame storefronts selling everything from regional cheeses to handmade paper. A bakery specializing in polenta e osei—a traditional almond cake shaped and decorated to resemble a dish of polenta topped with small birds—has occupied the same corner since 1880. The recipe remains unchanged, passed down through five generations.
The Modern Lower Town
While the upper town commands attention, the lower town possesses its own character and vitality. The Accademia Carrara, reopened after extensive renovation, houses one of Italy's finest art collections. Works by Botticelli, Bellini, and Raphael hang in galleries designed to let natural light play across centuries-old canvases. The museum's collection, assembled by Count Giacomo Carrara in the 18th century, reflects the refined taste of Lombardy's educated elite.
Nearby, the GAMeC (Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art) provides counterpoint to the Carrara's old masters. Rotating exhibitions showcase contemporary Italian and international artists. The dialogue between these two institutions—one dedicated to the past, the other to the present—mirrors the larger conversation between the upper and lower towns.
Culinary Traditions of the Hills
The surrounding Bergamasque valleys have shaped local cuisine in distinctive ways. Casoncelli, half-moon shaped pasta filled with meat, breadcrumbs, and sometimes pear or amaretti, appears on nearly every traditional menu. The dish gets dressed simply with melted butter, crispy pancetta, and grated cheese, allowing the filling's complex flavors to take center stage.
Polenta, a staple across northern Italy, reaches particular heights here. Made from stone-ground corn, it's served soft with braised meats, fried into crispy cakes, or baked with layers of cheese and mushrooms. In winter months, polenta e osei—the actual dish, not the cake—features small game birds served atop creamy polenta. More commonly today, rabbit or chicken substitutes for the increasingly rare songbirds.
Beyond the Walls
The Bergamasque valleys extend north from the city into the pre-Alps. These valleys—Val Brembana, Val Seriana, and Val Cavallina—have maintained distinct identities, dialects, and traditions. Stone villages cling to hillsides, their churches housing unexpected artistic treasures. Frescoed walls in remote chapels display works by Renaissance masters who found patronage among the valley's merchant families.
San Pellegrino Terme, in the Val Brembana, gives its name to one of Italy's most famous mineral waters. The grand Art Nouveau casino and spa buildings, dating from the town's belle époque heyday, are undergoing restoration. The valley also produces Taleggio, a soft cheese aged in natural caves where temperature and humidity remain constant year-round.
Airport City
The Orio al Serio airport, officially Milano-Bergamo, has transformed from a regional facility to one of Italy's busiest airports. Low-cost carriers have made it a gateway not just to the city itself but to the entire Lombardy region and northern Italy. This accessibility has brought change—more tourists, more business travelers, more international influence. The lower town's hotels and restaurants have multiplied to accommodate this influx. Yet the upper town, protected by those Venetian walls, absorbs these changes at its own measured pace.
Music and Memory
The city claims Gaetano Donizetti as its most celebrated son. The composer, born here in 1797, created over 70 operas including Lucia di Lammermoor and L'elisir d'amore. His birthplace in Città Alta has been preserved as a museum, while the Teatro Donizetti in the lower town continues to stage his works. Every few years, the Donizetti Festival attracts opera enthusiasts from around the world, filling the city with arias and orchestral music.
The composer's tomb rests in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, not far from Colleoni's grandiose monument. The juxtaposition speaks to the city's values—military prowess and artistic achievement, both honored, both remembered.
As evening settles over the Lombard plains, lights begin to twinkle in the lower town below while the upper town's ancient streetlamps cast their warm glow on stone buildings that have stood for half a millennium. The funicular makes its final runs, carrying residents home and visitors back to their hotels. In restaurants throughout both towns, diners savor local wines and traditional dishes, their conversations a mix of Bergamasco dialect and Italian, sometimes punctuated by other languages brought by travelers from distant places. Those seeking further Italian experiences might find themselves drawn to Bologna, where another distinct regional character awaits discovery.
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