Bergamo

Just 50km northeast of Milan, Bergamo feels much closer to the mountains than the city. It’s a great detour if your Italian lakes trip takes you near Lake Iseo or the southern end of Lake Como.

The city is split into two parts: Bergamo Bassa, the modern lower town with cobbled medieval corners mixed into elegant 19th- and early 20th-century planning, and Bergamo Alta, the old town perched 100 meters above. Alta is one of northern Italy’s most beautiful historic centers, full of winding lanes, quiet piazzas, and a relaxed pace that makes it ideal for slow exploration.

Bergamo owes much of its magic to the Venetians, who ruled the town for over 350 years, adorning facades and open spaces with the Venetian lion, symbol of the Republic, and leaving a ring of gated walls. Now worn, mellow and overgrown with creepers, these kept armies out until the French invaded in 1796.

Bergamo Alta: the upper town

With its steep, narrow streets flanked by high facades and encircled by sixteenth-century walls, Bergamo Alta – the upper town – remains largely as it was in the Middle Ages. The main public spaces – Piazza Vecchia and the adjacent Piazza del Duomo – blend medieval austerity with later Renaissance elegance.

The funicular from the lower town arrives at Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe, where the main street, starting as Via Gombito and continuing as Via Colleoni after Piazza Vecchia, follows the line of the Roman decumanus maximus. It’s topped and tailed by signs of Bergamo’s military past – the Rocca to the east, the Cittadella to the west.

If your tour of Italian lakes includes Bergamo, don’t miss the chance to take the second funicular through Porta Sant Alessandro up to San Vigilio, the highest point in town and perfect for sweeping views over the city and surrounding hills.

Top image: Alta of Bergamo from San Vigilio Hill © Larisa Dmitrieva/Shutterstock