Bergamo, Italy complete tour
00:00 intro
00:33 location
00:47 Venetian walls
01:44 main street, via Colleoni
02:38 Piazza Vecchia
04:53 map route of walking tour
05:19 train arrival, bus to top
07:05 funicular
07:57 Porta Sant’Alessandro
08:56 via Colleoni
12:17 Piazza Vecchia
13:34 Palazzo Nuovo
14:46 Tower vista
15:51 Colleoni Chapel
16:54 narrow lanes behind piazza
19:11 Piazza Mercato Delle Scarpe
19:26 La Rocca Fortress
20:37 Via Porta Dipinta
21:14 Palazzo Moroni
23:10 walk route on map
24:25 walk along Venetian wall
25:15 via Gombito
27:21 hotels
28:30 travel tips
30:00 funicular San Viglio
30:25 best vista and castle
32:05 another walking route
32:20 via San Salvatore and University
33:48 via Arena
35:14 Via Simone Mayr
36:02 Porta San Giacomo and main Venetian wall
37:46 Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
39:03 Cathedral of Sant'Alessandro
40:19 funicular to Lower Town
41:12 Piazza Dante
41:38 history summary
42:40 Porta Nuova and main street
43:15 train station and departure
Bergamo is an ancient Italian hill-town of magical beauty, yet relatively undiscovered, where you can escape tourist crowds and step into this crown jewel of Italy.
This country is famous for its medieval hill-towns, and one of the best is Bergamo, the ideal town with piazzas and pedestrian lanes lined with shops and restaurants, fountains, lots of outdoor bars and cafes and a wonderful setting up on a hill surrounded by fortified walls, a relatively small town just about a kilometer wide, but filled with little lanes and fascinating sights, located in the north of Italy, near the Alps.
Bergman's old town is up on a hill surrounded by massive fortified walls that were built by the Venetians in the middle of the 16th century. They are so well-preserved that several of the original gates are still functional. And now the wall is a World Heritage site, as seen from above, with the Venetian walls wrapping around the hillside Old Town.
The modern district of Bergamo is down below and quite lovely, but not the main focus of your visit.
Instead, you'll want to spend your time in Bergamo is Cheetah Alta, the upper town with origins that go back more than 2000 years.
There are still quite a few of those old buildings surviving from the Middle Ages. Especially dramatic are the towers that had been fortified. Homes of the wealthy families. And now this one is home to the tourist Information Office.
There is one main pedestrian street that runs through the center of town. It's about just under a kilometer long,
this nicely paved lane is quite level. So you could walk from one end of town to the other in about half an hour. But there is so much to see. It could take you two days, especially wandering along some of those steeper little side lanes.
The authentic character of this place is seen in that small town atmosphere with local residents doing their shopping, chatting with neighbors and relaxing out in the public spaces, walking along the back lanes. You might run into some university students heading for class.