From The
Sunday Times Travel Magazine January, 2008, issue
There are some excellent reasons for going to Bergamo, a key one being that
Ryanair flies there, although, with its trademark geographical vagueness,
the airline pretends to be spiriting you to Milan, 45 minutes away. But why
travel on to a fashion- and soccer-crazed mega-opolis when here you have a
cracking, manageable town that distils the best of northern Italy?
Drawn in behind ramparts like a dowager within her skirts, the upper town is a
squeeze of cobbled streets, churches, squares and bars, none of which have
noticeably changed since the Venetians ran the place: here a trattoria with
hanging hams, there a group of old dears outside their front doors, deep in
conversation. From the ramparts, the views are outstanding – Lombardy
plains, Bergamo hills and pre-Alp mountains.
What is especially appealing is the vibrancy: this town works hard. It’s said
that if you leave a Bergamo bloke with nothing to do for five minutes, he
will have built a house by the time you get back. This energy is evident in
the lower town, where there are broad avenues, a modern bustle and,
apparently, one bank per head of population. But wander into, say, Borgo
Sant’Alessandro and you’re in the midst of a labrynthine district where
churches and picture framers exist alongside artists, wine bars and kids
kicking footballs.
Bergamo is ideal for a weekend taste of Italy. You can see everything you need
to see and still have time for long lunches and longer dinners. It’s also a
fine base for the lakes – the province’s own Lake Iseo or, 40 minutes by
train, Lake Como. I’d book now.
HEART OF THE CITY
l Take the funicular from the lower town up the hill and through the ramparts
to the start of Via Gombito, the upper town’s principle street. ‘Principle’
in this context means wide enough for two donkeys. Here you’ll find
weatherbeaten townhouses, medieval towers and cheese shops from another age,
all funnelling the flow of people, many of them weekenders escaping Milan.
l Eat your way back in time. Rustic Pasticceria Cavour (Via Gombito 7) is a
potted history of Bergamo, while Pasticceria Donizetti (Via Gombito 17)
belches its tables under the market hall and deals in wine and good-value
lunches. Skip the polenta, Bergamo’s cornmeal concoction – not as
interesting as the locals think. Instead try the good bresaola (cured-beef)
salad for £6.50.
l Centrepiece of the Upper Town is the Piazza Vecchia, a clash of monumental
styles – Romanesque, Renaissance, Neoclassical – that only Italians could
render harmonious. Standing between the bell tower, the extraordinary marble
library and the Palazzo della Ragione, a vast building that spans one side
of the piazza, you feel the weight, but also the vivacity, of centuries.
l Proceed through the Palazzo’s arches to the Piazza del Duomo. The gobsmacker
here is the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, put up as a bribe to the
Virgin Mary. ‘Get us through this famine,’ they told her in the 12th
century, ‘and we’ll build you a church.’ It worked, and the townspeople
reacted with vigour over the following centuries. The austere original
Romanesque structure gives way inside to explosion-in-a-paintbox Baroque.
Frescoes vie for space with Flemish tapestries. Stucco covers every surface,
and wood panels by Lorenzo Lotto embellish the choir. There’s so much going
on that you could easily miss the tomb of local lad Gaetano Donizetti, opera
composer extraordinaire.
l Remarkably, the volume is turned up more in the adjacent Cappella Colleoni
(00 39 035 210061), mausoleum to Bartolomeo Colleoni, 15th-century mercenary
leader in the service of Venice and Bergamo. From the marble facade to the
overwrought interior, this is the sort of funerary chapel that, today, Kim
Jong-il might design for himself.
l Now take in the views over the city from the Rocca, a fort and citadel,
built, like the ramparts, to keep out the predatory Milanese. A short walk
brings you to the Donizetti Museum (Via Arena 9; 00 39 035 399269, www.fondazione.bergamoestoria.it),
dedicated to the prolific composer, who wrote 71 operas, 18 symphonies and
dozens of other works. It took it out of him in the end. Or something did.
He died in Bergamo in 1848, aged just 51, syphilitic and insane.
Excellent review of a town many people fly into but never see...What a pitty. One of only 3 towns with it's outer walls intact, I refer also to a personal view of the town http://www.monticolo.it/bergamoguide.html . I agree it's not a brand town but that's also part of its fascination. My 5 reasons to visit Bergamo are
1) The walled high town of Bergamo with its castle, University, cable car, cobbled streets, pedestrian area and varied restaurants offering beautiful views out over the plains of Northen Italy
2) The excellent shopping area to be found in the Bergamo low town.
3) The superb location, 10 mins from Milan Bergamo airport (Ryanair Hub) and 40 mins by train from Milan.
4) The hinterland that includes lakes, mountains and varied activities.
5) It's history and culture rival that of any other Italian town (perhaps with the exception of Milan, Florence and Rome)
Alex Reed, Brescia, Italy