Bergamo: Hidden Gem of Lombardy

The bell tower in Bergamo Alta
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Ask any tourist about his trip to Italy and he will ramble about the beauty of Florence, the grandiosity of Rome and the romance of Venice. Few, if any at all, will tell you about Bergamo, a small gem located only a half hour Northeast of Milan.

Built by a Celtic tribe more than 2000 years ago, Bergamo became a Roman province in the year 49 and in the following centuries was invaded, destroyed and rebuilt several times. The most obvious influence, however, is Venetian: the city of Venice ruled Bergamo for three hundred years, from 1428 to 1796, and elements of its architecture and cuisine are clearly a result of this domination.

The square itself was a spectacle not to miss: bustling with little kids playing around a fountain, it felt like the quintessential Italian square, with teenagers hanging out on the Palazzo’s marble steps, and a few older man, reading the paper in the sun outside a café.

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On a beautiful September morning, I drove uphill to reach Bergamo Alta, the old part of town, where everything worth seeing is in this small and charming town. After parking my car my friend and I joined the few people strolling around the narrow, pedestrians-only streets of Bergamo, stopping every once in a while to check out a small bar or a restaurant menu. We slowly made our way to the central square, the Piazza del Duomo, where one can admire the beautiful palaces inspired by Venetian architecture: the Palazzo della Regione (once upon a time the city’s government building, today a massive public library), the Tower, and the heavily decorated, baroque style cathedral. The square itself was a spectacle not to miss: bustling with little kids playing around a fountain, it felt like the quintessential Italian square, with teenagers hanging out on the Palazzo’s marble steps, and a few older man, reading the paper in the sun outside a café.

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Right behind the piazza we found a small restaurant, Ristorante Da Franco, where we had lunch al fresco and enjoyed a good pizza and some local wine. Being used to American prices I almost cried for joy when I realized that my pizza cost 4 Euros, while a ½ liter of delicious house cabernet was only 4.50 Euros. Da Franco instantly became our favorite restaurant in town.

After lunch we continued our walk, an aimless stroll that made us look like drunken ants, and ended up climbing a steep cobblestone road to the top of the “Rocca”. The Rocca is pretty much a rock, the highest elevation in town, where in the 1300 the ruler of the town built a fortress to prevent further invasions and destruction. The park around the building has recently being transformed into a war memorial, where soldiers of all wars from Bergamo are remembered. From this vantage point the view of the city and the mountains made our tiring walk uphill definitely worth it. On the other hand, we couldn’t visit the Museum of History inside the building because we found out that they don’t accept credit cards, and we had spent our last Euros to buy two espresso right before climbing the hill.

On our way back to the car we stopped to quench our thirst in one of the many watering holes around town, the Irish Pub. A couple of Kilkennys later we were ready to drive back to the chaos and rush of Milano: Bergamo had given us the opportunity to sit back, relax and enjoy life in a small town, Italian style.