Bergamo

Introduction

Bergamo (Italian only) is a city in Lombardy in the north of Italy. It is located roughly 40 kilometres northeast of Milan and has about 125,000 inhabitants. The upper town is a fantastic old medieval town and the region is great to explore as well, with the foothills of the Alps just starting outside the city. Its medieval, Renaissance and baroque architecture is a real attraction for travellers, but not for people who decide to live in the older part of the city: properties cost millions of dollars/euros!
For more information check the touristic website of Bergamo.

Neighbourhoods

• Upper city - the citta alta
• Lower city - the citta bassa

Sights and Activities

The upper city is a medieval town with surrounding 17th century defensive walls. Several important sights here include:

• The citadel (citadella)
• Piazza Vecchia
• Palazzo della Ragione - the former seat of the administration of the city, built during the 12th century, rebuilt in the late 16th century.
• Palazzo Nuovo
• Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore - built between the 12th and 15th century.
• Cappella Colleoni
• The Baptistry - dating back to 1340.
• Duomo/Cathedral of Bergamo
• Castle (or Rocca) - built during the 14th century.
• San Michele al Pozzo Bianco - 12th century church.
• Archaeological Civic Museum
• Caffi Natural Science Museum
• Botanical garden

Although the lower city is mainly a residential and modern part of Bergamo there are a few sights here as well:

• Picture museum of Carrara academy
• Gallery of modern and contemporary art

Of course the city is a good base in winter to go skiing on the slopes of the Alps.

Events and Festivals

Weather

Bergamo enjoys quite a nice climate with usually warm, sunny and dry summers but with sometimes heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms during this time. Summers last from June to September with temerpatures between 25 °C and 29 °C on most days, nights averaging around 15 °C. Winters last from December to February when temperatures are around 5 °C or 6 °C during the day, and around zero at night. Up in the mountains temperatures drop significantly and snow carpets last for months. It's a good base to go skiing.
Precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with some more rainy days in spring (March-early May) but heavier showers in autumn (October-early November).

Getting There

By Plane

Orio al Serio Airport (BGY) near Bergamo serves a large number of European cities, mainly with lowcoast airlines. It also serves as a great alternative for flying to Milan, about 45 kilometres away. Especially Ryanair has quite a few flights throughout Europe. Cities with connections to and from Bergamo include Alghero, Alicante, Bari, Berlin, Bratislava, Bremen, Brindisi, Bristol, Brussels, Cagliari, Dublin, Eindhoven, Fez, Frankfurt, Girona, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Granada, Ibiza, Krakow, Liverpool, London, Lübeck, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Nantes, Oslo, Palermo, Paris, Pescara, Porto, Riga, Rome, Santander, Seville, Stockholm, Tangier, Tampere, Valencia, Valladolid, and Zaragoza. Several more budget airlines serve Bergamo including SkyEurope (Prague, Wizzair (mainly Poland) and a few more mainly to Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and destinations in eastern Europe, like Tirana, Timisoara and Bratislava.

To/from the airport

• Bus: Terravision and Autostradale run a service between the airport and the central station in Milan city centre. ATM runs a bus service between the airport and the railway station.
• Rail: There is a direct Airport Bus from Bergamo railway station to the airport provided by the local transport company of Bergamo, the trip costs €1.70 and takes 15 minutes. From Bergamo railway station there are trains to Milan, Brescia and Lecco.

Although further away, the Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) is a convenient way of arriving as well. The airport has connections to many major cities in Europe. There are also several flights to the Middle East, North America and North Africa every day. These include destinations like Baku, Marrakech and New York to name a few.
Milan Linate Airport (LIN) is another smaller airport near Milan and has many domestic destinations. There are limited flights to cities in western and northern Europe.
The Malpensa and Linate airports are linked by a bus system and takes 40 minutes to get between them.
Milan has hourly buses and trains to Bergamo (see below).

By Train

Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), the national railway carrier, has trains to and from Bergamo. Destinations include Milan (hourly, 45 minutes), Brescia (50 minutes) and Cremona (2 hours).

By Car

By Bus

Sab Autoservizi (website in Italian) offers buses throughout the region's lakes and mountainous areas.
Regular buses connects Bergamo to Milan as well.

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

Parking spaces are limited in the upper city and non-local traffic is prohibited on the weekends.

By Public Transport

The upper and lower city are connected by funicular/cable car.

By Foot

Most of the city can be negotiated on foot easily and there are footpaths connecting the upper and lower city or you can take a funicular/cable car up and walk back down.

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Work

Learn

• Bergamo University

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

Post Italiane is the national postal services of Italy and has quite an efficient network of postal offices and reliable postal services. Standard letters and postcards (up to 20 grams) cost €0.39 to send within Europe and the Mediterranean countries outside Europe and €0.41 to all other destinations throughout the country. Up to 50 grams, prices start at €0.52 for Europe, €0.62 for other areas. Packages start at €1.55 within Europe, and around €2.50 for other countries. Post office business hours in Italy are from 8:30am to 2:00pm from Monday to Friday, with closing times at Saturday and the last day of the month at 12 noon.