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Bergamo (Italian: [ˈbɛrɡamo] ⓘ; Bergamasque: Bèrghem [ˈbɛrɡɛm] ⓘ) is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Milan, and about 30 km (19 mi) from the alpine lakes Como and Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Garda and Maggiore. The Bergamo Alps (Alpi Orobie) begin immediately north of ...
- Overview
- What to see and do
- Where to shop
- Where to eat
- Where to stay
- What to do outside Bergamo
- Getting there & around
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Surrounded by green hills and towering Alps, this Lombardy beauty is a playground for lovers of art, antiquities and exploring the great outdoors.
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
For most people, Bergamo is a city of two parts: the historic Città Alta (Upper Town), and Città Bassa (Lower Town). Zoom out a little, though, and you’ll see those two halves are surrounded by a spectacular whole — nature herself. While the famously flat Po Valley unfurls south of the city towards Milan, clasping Bergamo in a gentle embrace are tumbling green hills, while poking up behind them, north of the city, are the snow-capped Orobic Alps. That makes this one of Italy’s best outdoor cities — a place where you can start the day with a hilly hike, pop into town for lunch and some art or history tours, and then head out to the mountains in the afternoon.
Perched on a bluff overlooking the Po Valley, Bergamo’s Città Alta was founded by Alpine-dwelling Celts, and then taken over by Romans, who made it into an important stop for those crossing the Alps. In 1428, the Venetians arrived, making it the western outpost of their empire — that’s why the historic centre has the elegant porticoes of a Veneto town. It’s also why the Città Alta is wreathed in gargantuan city walls, rippling around the hill as they turn nature itself into a defence. Today, those walls are still standing — protected by UNESCO, they’re one of the many reasons Bergamo was selected as Italian Capital of Culture 2023, alongside its neighbour, Brescia.
Piazza Vecchia: This square has been the heart of the Città Alta since Roman times. Once the ancient Forum, it’s now a stately Venetian affair with grand palazzos wrapped around the ornate, 18th-century Contarini fountain, guarded by lions and sphinxes.
Don’t miss the Romanesque basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, stuffed with ancient tapestries and inlaid wood carvings by Lorenzo Lotto, or the Cappella Colleoni, the bombastic resting place of a legendary renaissance mercenary. Beneath the cathedral lies a Roman street housing the Museo e tesoro della Cattedrale, home to frescoed walls of the original medieval cathedral.
Accademia Carrara: Just below the Venetian walls is Bergamo’s fine arts academy, with its bijou but first-rate gallery. Dutch and Flanders artists get a good showing, but the focus is on Italians, particularly Venetians: Titian, Tiepolo and Bellini, alongside Pietro Longhi’s cameos of 18th-century lagoon life.
Palazzo Moroni: This outré 17th-century palazzo in the Città Alta — all wildly frescoed walls and trompe-l’œil figures dangling from the ceiling — opens on to beautiful grounds at the back. Rose-filled gardens and neatly clipped topiary lead to a rolling meadow pointing towards the mountains, with deckchairs inviting passersby to sit a while.
Aperitivo in Piazza Pontida: Once a village below Bergamo and now part of the Città Bassa, Borgo San Lorenzo comes alive at aperitivo hour, especially around Piazza Pontida. Il Maialino di Giò offers an array of wines by the glass, including local Franciacorta labels (Lombardy’s legendary Champagne-like sparkling wine), and taglieri (boards) of local salami and cheeses.
Tuk-tuk city wall tour: The Venetian walls are so vast — up to 75ft high and three miles in circumference — that last summer the city launched tuk-tuk tours to help you make the circuit. You’ll loop the Città Alta, glimpsing the Alps, the Po plain and, on a clear day, Milan glittering in the distance.
Evelyne Aymon
Evelyne Aymon and her fashion graduate daughter Fulvia hand-stitch chic headbands with fabrics by the likes of Gucci and Missoni in their shop set above a Roman mosaic on Via Bartolomeo Colleoni.
La Botteda di Nonna Betta
When it’s cold up in the Città Alta, you’ll need this shop, full of cashmere clothes made by local artisans in a joyful colours. In fact, its a go-to even in warm weather — they do dresses and tops for summer.
L’Aatelier di Rita Patelli
Rita carves and decorates beautiful items from wood, and even turns dried fruit into trinkets in her atelier. Want a unique souvenir? Get one of her wooden eggs, personalised with your favourite musical score or book quote.
La Marianna
With tables outside overlooking the hills unfolding below, bar-pasticceria La Marianna is the perfect place for lunch on the hoof. Leave room for gelato – one of Italy’s iconic flavours, stracciatella (chocolate-veined cream), was born here in 1961, and the Panattoni family still make it with a bain marie to melt the chocolate by hand.
Da Mimmo
In a 14th-century palazzo in the Città Alta, Da Mimmo focuses on Slow Food products, with most of its ingredients, from vegetables to meat, coming from local suppliers. If it’s full, its trattoria Mimì is just across the street, with excellent daily specials, from cheese-swirled polenta taragna to casoncelli swimming in butter. damimmoelina.com
Ristorante Casual
Italian superchef Enrico Bartolini’s Bergamo outpost overlooks the tranquil garden of Le Funi hotel. The Michelin-starred restaurant offers ‘blind’ five-course tasting menus, where you’re not told what you’ll get, or a 10-course seasonal extravaganza.
Hotel Città dei Mille
A block beyond the train station in the Città Bassa, a 10-minute trot from the centre, this old-school three-star is a perennial favourite, with each floor themed by a different colour. A little retro but comfy and friendly.
NH Bergamo
An easy walk from the train station and a quick stagger from Piazza Pontida, this top-notch chain hotel has great views of the Città Alta from the top floor. Don’t miss the great little sushi restaurant next door, which is great for post-aperitivo food.
Le Funi Hotel
Book early to get into this bucolic boutique hotel, just outside the Città Alta, where the San Vigilio funicular trundles up past the peaceful garden. The modern rooms have perky pops of yellow and pink, while breakfast is served in the cellar in winter and on the patio in summer.
Lake Endine
Just 20 miles northeast of the city is Lake Endine, etched between the mountains of the Val Cavallina valley. Head to Monasterolo del Castello, on the southeast side, where you can swim, rent a pedalo or try fishing at the Casa del Pescatore.
The Val Seriana valley
E-bikes make the impossible possible in the Alps. A four-hour nature-focused tour of the upper Val Seriana valley includes cheese tasting at a baita (mountain dairy — only open in the summer) and views from the spectacular Salto degli Sposi near Presolana.
Barbellino lakes
A three-and-a-half-hour hike takes you from Valbondione, 33 miles northeast of the city, to the two Barbellino lakes. Refuel at Curò refuge, at 6,383ft on the first (artificial) lake, before trekking for about an hour to a turquoise basin at the foot of the Torena and Strinato peaks.
Bergamo’s Orio al Serio airport is a low-cost hub, so there are excellent non-stop flight connections from the UK. Ryanair flies from nine UK airports including Belfast International, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Stansted, while Wizz Air flies from Cardiff and Gatwick. EasyJet also flies from Gatwick and new Italian airline Aeroitalia flies from Heathrow. Average flight time: 1h50.
It’s also an easy journey by train: take the Eurostar to Paris, then the 6h40 Frecciarossa to Milan. From there, hourly trains take 50 minutes to Bergamo. Bergamo is compact and is easily explored on foot — though you might want to take the funicular from the Città Bassa to the Città Alta. Regular buses connect the funicular with the station. It’s best to hire a car if you’re heading into the mountains.
Bergamo is wonderful year-round though it comes into its own in spring, when temperatures average around 18C. Summer is warmer, at around 25C, while visiting in winter means you can cram in some skiing in the mountains.
Visit Bergamo
Seriana Valley
How to do it
Travel Republic offers three nights’ B&B at NH Bergamo from £291 per person, room only, including EasyJet flights from Gatwick.
Published in the Alpine 2023 guide, distributed with the April 2023 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK)
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Aug 2, 2024 · Where is Bergamo, Italy? Bergamo is a cool, old, and lovely city in north Italy, about 25 miles northeast of Milan.Actually, it consists of two different parts – the upper, medieval city, known as Città Alta (literally ‘upper town’) with its grey cobblestone streets, nice medieval towers, and killer views; and the lower town, Città Bassa (‘lower town’) where all the modern stuff ...
Bergamo Bergamo is a city in Lombardy, a region of Italy, and the capital of the namesake province.One of the most scenic cities in Italy, it is located on and around a steep hill, green in the summer and white in the winter, complemented by pastel-coloured architecture, against the backdrop of nearby Alps.
- Lombardy, Italy
- 035 399111
Sep 17, 2024 · Bergamo, city, Lombardia (Lombardy) region, northern Italy, in the southern foothills of the Alps between the Brembo and Serio rivers, northeast of Milan. Originally the centre of the Orobi tribe, it became a Roman town (Bergomum) in 196 bc. Rebuilt after destruction by Attila the Hun, it was later the seat of a Lombard duchy and became an ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Dec 2, 2022 · Hang out in Piazza Vecchia. Piazza Vecchia, in Bergamo Alta, is the ideal place to begin exploring the city. This is where the 12th century Torre del Comune (Civic Tower) is located. Even nowadays, every night at 10 pm its bell rings 100 times to announce the curfew and the closing of the city gates.
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The history and magic of Bergamo. The history of Bergamo has distant origins as an Orobi settlement. It became a Roman municipality from 49 BC, but sacked repeatedly with the fall of the Empire. Medieval Bergamo saw the flourishing of powerful Lombard families, known for having divided the urban territory into two royal districts.
