Bergamo, like all good mothers, gives you everything you need. Perched between plain and peaks, in the north of the country, it combines a stately lower town with a magnificent medieval upper town, writes LORRAINE COURTNEY
WHEN THE WRITER Hermann Hesse holidayed in Bergamo in 1913, he ventured beyond the Venetian ring of walls to ride the funicular railway up to San Vigilio hill. For the first time he saw Italy as he had always imagined it: the vast and bountiful Po plain, and the long-yearned-for destination unfolding beyond as the infant Alps soar skywards.
Bergamo seemed like an observatory. In fact this city, perched between plain and snow-carpeted peaks, perfectly encapsulated the relationship between culture and nature that Hesse was seeking on his famed walks across the Italian peninsula.
From the time of Etruscan domination the Bergamo region has been subjugated by Gauls, Romans, Milanese and Venetians. These marauders stamped a lasting impression on the city. Even the Austrians had a say in its administration for a time, until Garibaldi freed it under the banner of Italian unification, in 1859.
Locals use the expression utero materno to describe Bergamo. Truly. Like a big mother, it gives you everything.
Today it is a tale of two cities. Bergamo’s lower town is broader and more stately. But its Renaissance and neoclassical structures play only a supporting role in Bergamo. The 19th-century funicular takes you through the city walls up to Città Alta, or the Upper City.
When the Venetians erected Bergamo’s fourth set of walls, in the 16th century, they tore down hundreds of homes without compensating the owners. The Bergamaschi despised the Venetians throughout their 300-plus-year rule, and even today locals still sound miffed. Because of advances in military hardware, the walls proved useless against armies, but did offer day-to-day protection from roving bandits.
The funicular arrives at Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe (Shoe Market Square). Bergamo’s medieval quarter stretches ahead. Amble between weathered palazzi into the narrow Via Gombito, past butchers, delis and cafes to the magnificent Renaissance Piazza Vecchia.
On the square stands the Venetian-Gothic Palazzo della Ragione, its arched windows and wrought-iron lamps lending a stagy atmosphere. Behind, cramped Piazza Duomo hosts the splendid 12th-century basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, believed to have been built by survivors of a plague. Romanesque in structure, the cathedral was later “baroqued” inside and out – not uncommon in Bergamo, whose ancient buildings continually suffered from architectural revisionism. Early medieval statues, elegant Giottoesque frescoes, Renaissance tapestries by Bronzino, intricate baroque naves and bright rococo pulpits all squabble for your attention. Hovering way above all this splendour is a wooden statue of Christ. He perches on a skull and crossbones within a metal hoop, his body racked by pain and grief.
Smack bang next to Santa Maria Maggiore is another church. This one, the cathedral proper, is a tribute to the exuberance of Counter-Reformation Rome; its extravagance will leave you clinging to a pew.
When you hear bells tolling – and bells toll incessantly in Bergamo – you know exactly how they sounded centuries ago when they warned that the city gates were closing. For a moment you can share the ease of the medieval town-dweller, safely inside, and the anxiety of a rider outside the walls, spurring his steed towards a gate swinging closed. The curfew bells still toll daily at 10pm from Torre della Civica, a 48m 12th-century tower. The gates no longer close.
Nearby sits the funeral chapel of Bartolomeo Colleoni, the sort of quirky mercenary every town should boast. Having twice captained the forces of Milan against Venice, he swapped sides and twice led those of Venice against Milan. He had the chapel built to house his mortal remains and colossal ego. The chapel is an extravagant confection of pastel marble capped with a mosque-like dome. The sarcophagus is a miracle of bas-relief; it is supported on four marble pillars, with a sort of kennel at the base of each, all four housing a sculpted hound – or maybe a miniature lion, because the Venetians, for all their devotion to St Mark, sometimes had a rather ballpark view of big-cat anatomy.
Dogs or lions, one of them is overcome by the death of its master and howls, its head upturned, in stony misery. The other three look towards their brother with expressions of compassion and concern.
You might expect this chapel to be testament to Colleoni’s overwhelming pride and power, but the designers had other ideas. Instead they built something resembling the foyer of a great theatre. You half-expect its doors to be opened by cap-doffing courtiers, revealing a bawdy playhouse where an irreverent Harlequin mocks the pretension of Pantalon or pulls Punch by the nose. This seems wholly appropriate, as Bergamo was the origin of commedia dell’arte, the semi-improvised theatre that reached its comic height in the works of Carlo Goldoni.
Bergamo folklore flanks the well-known carnival mask with the figure of Gioppino. Gioppino appeared on the scene as Napoleon’s army was taking possession of Bergamo and putting an end to Venetian domination. Gioppino is conservative; poverty produced his insatiable appetite, and his elementary sense of justice prompts him to make use of his sturdy stick. And so he metes out resounding blows as an enthusiastic public applauds. There is light, but also darkness, in Bergamo.
** Lorraine Courtney was a guest of Ryanair and Turismo Bergamo
Go there
Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies to Bergamo, listed as Milan on its website, from Dublin and Shannon.
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go
5 places to stay
Hotel Milano. Via San Pellico 3, Castione della Presolana, Bratto, 00-39-0346-31211, www.hotelmilano.com. Set in the Seriana Valley, at the foot of the magnificent Presolana mountain, this ticks all the right boxes. The Swiss-chalet facade belies a sleek interior, and the Alpine spa is an otherworldly sanctuary. Doubles from €180.
Mercure Bergamo Palazzo Dolci. Viale Papa Giovanni XXIII 100, Bergamo, 00-39- 035-227411, www.mercure. com. Chic, stylish hotel wedged into a 19th-century palazzo near the Donizetti Theatre. Hung with reworked Bergamaschi masterpieces. Doubles from €84.
Il Gourmet. Via San Vigilio 1, 00-39-035-4373004, www.gourmet-bg.it. A pleasant restaurant and hotel with splendid views over Bergamo’s medieval heart. Doubles from €90.
Hotel Bigio. Via Matteotti 2, San Pellegrino Terme, 00-39-0345-21058/21687, www.bigio.info. Elegant but cosy rooms. Doubles from €50.
Central Hostel BG. Via Ghislanzoni 30, Bergamo, 00-39-035-211359, www.centralhostelbg.com. A few steps from Via XX Settembre, Bergamo’s retail heart. Doubles from €50.
5 places to eat
Colleoni Dell’Angelo. Piazza Vecchia 7, Bergamo, 00-39-035-232596, www.colleonidellangelo.com, Cut-glass class reverberates around this 17th-century palace overseen by chef Pierangelo Comaro, who’s about as good as they get.
Da Vittorio. Via Cantalupa 17, Brusaporto, 00-39-035- 681024, www.davittorio.com. The bread is home-made, and with polenta they have found a way of dealing with that runt of the starch family that makes it palatable. Good wine list.
Ol Giopì e la Margì. Via Borgo Palazzo 27, 00-39- 035-242366, www.giopi margi.com. Well-heeled locals love the attentive patron and traditionally dressed waitresses. Bergamesque dishes with contemporary flair.
Ristorante Pizzeria Da Mimmo. Via B Colleoni 17, Bergamo, 00-39-035-218535, www.ristorantemimmo.com. A restaurant with a very distinct personality. A meal there is a piece of gastronomic theatre.
La Giuliana. Via Broseta 58, 00-39-035-402926. Cosy trattoria where everybody is welcomed by Giuliana, the charming owner. Delicious and very reasonable Italian dishes.
5 places to go
Accademia Carrara. Piazza Giacomo Carrara 82, 00-39- 035-399 640, www.accademia carrara.bergamo.it. Founded by Count Giacomo Carrara in 1795 and subsequently enriched by donations from local connoisseurs. Apart from half a dozen Lottos, the gallery has splendid works by Mantegna, Pisanello, Botticelli, Carpaccio, the Bellinis, Titian, Antonello da Messina, Tiepolo, Canaletto and Guardi.
Lorenzo Rota Botanic Gardens. Scaletta di Colle Aperto, 00-39-035-286060, www.ortobotanicodibergamo.it. A hilltop of scented plants, hollyhocks, rosemary, lavender, berry bushes, a lily pond and few other people. Wonderful views of the old town’s steeples and towers, whose bells reach you from all directions.
Donizetti Museum. Via Arena 9, 00-39-035-4284769, www.bergamoestoria.it. Dedicated to the prolific composer, who wrote 71 operas and 18 symphonies, plus dozens of other works, and wowed Europe. It took it out of him in the end. Or something did. He died in Bergamo in 1848, aged just 51, syphilitic and insane.
Borgo Pignolo. Dip into this medieval quarter by the city walls, then stroll the spacious gardens of the Sentierone, a Bergamo rendezvous since the 17th century, laid out anew in the 1920s by Marcello Piacentini, with loggias, porticos and tree-lined piazzas.
Lovere. Hop on a bus to this pretty town on Lake Iseo. It’s the quintessential Italian lakes destination. It has a promenade planted with oleanders and lime trees, an excellent art collection, fin-de-siècle hotels painted shades of butterscotch and cream, and a heart of stepped, cobbled alleyways.
Where to shop
Scour the delis and groceries of Città Alta’s Via Gombito for salumi d’oca (goose salami), ruby-red Valcalepio wines and pungent bagoss cheese. Oriocenter, beside the airport, claims to be Europe’s largest mall; it houses all the usual suspects, such as Max Co, Zara, Guess, HM, Sephora and Intimissimi, as well as a mammoth hypermarket.
Hot spot
The tangled warren of Upper City streets are home to a plethora of watering holes to mosey through. Via Borgo Santa Caterina, in the Lower City, is lively on summer evenings, with open-air live music.
Escape the city
The sublime Presolana range, with its crags and harshly beautiful dolomitic peaks, is the setting of the charming village of Castione della Presolana. There are resorts with kilometres of well-groomed pistes for the snow enthusiast, and it’s also an excellent summer base for hikes and climbs in the Orobie Alps. The locals have an infectious love of their mountain. Find out more at www.cooraltur.it.
For more
See www.turismo.bergamo.it. Turismo Bergamo also has an office at airport arrivals.