Città Alta, Bergamo

The Porta Sant’ Agostino city gate is the Southern gate to Città Alta for all motorized traffic. Although the center gate is just a single lane, all traffic (including the busses and trucks) have to pass this gate and making a sharp turn to get at the road along the outer walls.

Porta Sant’ Agostino was designed by Paolo Berlendis. Construction started in 1575 during a huge project to improve the fortifications of the Città Alta

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Città Alta is the oldest part of Bergamo. It's a fortified part of town up the mountain with many towers.

Points of interest in Città Alta:
-The City Walls
-Porta San Giacomo
-Piazza Vecchia
-Torre Civica in Città Alta
-Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
-Colleoni Chapel
-Cattedrale di Bergamo
-Theatre of Society
-Torre di Adalberto
-Civic Archaeological Museum
-Enrico Caffi Civic Museum of Natural Sciences
-Donizetti Museum
-Former Monastery of San Francesco
-Museo di Palazzo Moroni
-Botanic Garden
-San Vigilio Funicolar
-Città Alta - Città Bassa Funicular

The Natural Science Museum was founded in 1917 by Enrico Caffi. The collections have come from the Regal Technical Institute and private donations. They include geological, botanic, zoological and ethnographic artefacts. One room is devoted to a giant Mammoth and another to the group of the Arthropods: arachnids, myriapods, crustaceans and insects.

Admission: free.

Opening hours:
Mo: Closed
Tu-Fr: 9AM - 0.30PM; 2.30PM - 5.30PM (6PM in Summer)
Sa-Su: 9AM - 0.30PM; 2.30PM - 5.30PM (9AM - 7PM in Summer)

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The Bergamo Archaeological Museum is an interesting place to visit. The artefacts on display are very very old and tell the early history of the area.

Admission: Free

Opening hours:
Mo: Closed
Tu-Fr: 9AM - 0:30PM; 2:30PM - 5:30PM (6PM in Summer)
Sa-Su: 9AM - 0:30PM; 2:30PM - 5:30PM (9AM - 7PM in Summer)

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The Viale delle Mura is the street at 3 sides around Città Alta, From the top of the city wall you have great lookoffs onto the surroundings. At parts there are small parks and benches and in between some of the old city gates.

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The Porta San Giacomo is one of the city gates of Città Alta.

The construction dates from the 15th century and the street leading to it (Via Sant' Alessandro) from the Città Bassa is a great construction as well.

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We were lucky enough to be able to visit the Palazzo Moroni during the Euromeet 2012.

The palace was built around 1600 by the Moroni family, a well respected family of architects and more. A grand staircase made by by Lorenzo Redi leads to the first floor with impressive living-, dining and bed rooms. You will see Paintings by Giovanni Giacomo Barbelli and more art work by artists like Giovan Battista Moroni, Bernardino Luini, Fra’ Galgarioa and Evaristo Baschenis. The ceilling paintings are overwhelming.

The grounds contain a tower built in the 14th century and gardens on several terras levels.

The Torre di Adalberto is situated in the NW part of Città Alta, directly after the Piazza Cittadella, when you enter the upper town from Largo Colle Aperto, where buses from the Città Bassa (lower town) arrive and depart.

The tower was built by the Crotta family in the 12th century but was later named Torre di Adalberto by local people in memory of the Count and Bishop Adalberto, who governed Bergamo in medieval times.

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The Convento di San Francesco is a former cloister with the remains of frescoes dating from the 15th till 18th centuries.

A part of the building is occopied by the History museum

Museum entrance fee: Euro 3.00 (Adult)

Opening hours:
Mo: Closed
Tu-Fr: 9:30AM - 1PM; 2:30PM - 6PM
Sa-Su: 9:30AM - 7PM

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On our first morning in Bergamo, Sue had arranged for us to have a free guided walk in Città Alta. Such tours are available to the general public, though they normally cost €10 (see website for details). If the public tours are even half as good as ours was (and I expect they would be, as the same guides do both) then they would make a great introduction to the sights and history of Alta for any visitor. If you’d like to do one, book at the tourist office on Via Gombito or just meet at the Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe (by the upper Funicular Station) at the times given on the website.

Or guide, Giulia, was very apologetic about her English (she normally guides in German) but need not have been. It was excellent, as was her knowledge of and enthusiasm for the city of Bergamo. I learned so much on this tour that stood me in good stead for later explorations on my own, and she took us to at least a couple of spots that I doubt I would even have discovered. We started in the Piazza Luigi Angelini, took in the Gombito Tower and other tower houses, then headed for the Piazza Vecchia and surrounding buildings. Giulia was particularly full of information about the beautiful Santa Maria Maggiore and the Colleoni Chapel. From here we went through back streets to the church of San Salvatore, where our tour ended. It had been a long and informative morning, and thanks to Giulia, and to Sue, we had had a wonderful introduction to Bergamo’s Città Alta.

My next few tips describe the main sights we saw on this walk, starting with the Gombito Tower and other tower houses – a classic sight of Bergamo.