Bergamo – High and Low

Bergamo city of two parts, the High Town has a university, a castle, cable car and cobbled streets. To give the high town its proper name, Citta Alta, is a medieval city. The surrounding walls enclose Piazza Vecchia, the Contarini fountain, the Palazzo della Regione and a bell tower which still rings out in the evening as it once did long ago to let people know the doors of the city were closing. There is the Angelo Mai library well worth a visit. You might like to climb the City Tower for the wonderful views. There many sights worth seeing in Citta Alta such as the Botanic Gardens, the Colleoni Chapel, the Museum of Natural Sciences, The Cathedral and the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica where musician Donizetti was laid to rest.  The trip in the Cable Car to the high town was in itself most enjoyable.

The lower city has many places of interest too including the Academia Carrara art gallery. Paintings by Botticelli, Raffaello, Bellini and Donatello can be seen here.  In the Bergamo lower city can be found the centre for shopping in the leading brand shops, fine wines and of course local produce.  Bergamo is not a really big city, as cities go, therefore you will find everything you want reasonably close at hand. 

When dining out you must try the La polenta della Bergamasca and the La torta del Donizetti for dessert they could be said to be a good enough reason to visit Bergamo!