Bergamo

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Comune di Bergamo
Image:Bergamo-Stemma.png Municipal coat of arms
Country	Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy
Region	Lombardy
Province	Bergamo (BG)
Mayor	Roberto Bruni (since 27/06/2004)

Elevation	249 m
Area	38.7 km²
Population
- Total (as of 2004)	117,887
- Density	3,046/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	45°42′N 9°40′E
Gentilic	bergamaschi
Dialing code	035
Postal code	24100

Patron	Saint Alexander
- Day	26 August
Website: www.comune.bergamo.it

Bergamo (in Lombard: Bèrghem) is a town in Lombardy, Italy, about 40km northeast of Milan. The commune covers 39.6 km², and is home to 113,143 inhabitants. It is home to Orio al Serio International Airport, which serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent Milan. The foothills of the Alps begin immediately north of the town.

Image:Cappella Colleoni Medea Colleoni.jpg

1 Description
- 1.1 Città alta
- 1.2 Città bassa
2 History
3 Miscellaneous
4 Gallery
5 Sister cities
6 External links

[edit] Description

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The town has two centers: "Città alta" (uptown), a hilltop medieval town, surrounded by 17th century cyclopic defensive walls, and "Città bassa" (downtown), developed since the beginning of the 20th century. The two parts of the town are connected by road, however parking spaces are very limited in the 'upper town' and the road is blocked on Sundays. The best and most practical way for a pedestrian to access the 'upper town' is via the funicular which runs regularly 7 days a week.

[edit] Città alta

Image:Bergamo salita centro.jpg

Image:Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore Outside.JPG

The upper city, surrounded by Venetian walls built in the 17th century, serves as the historic center of Bergamo.

It includes numerous historical monuments:

Piazza Vecchia (old square)
Palazzo della Ragione. It was the seat of the administration of the city in the communal age. It is now seat of exhibitions. Erected in the 12th century, it was rebuilt in the late 16th century by Pietro Isabello. The façade has the St. Mark's Lion over a mullioned window, testifying the long period of Venetian dominance. The atrium has a well-preserved 18th century sundial.
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary). It was built from 1137 on the site of a previous religious edifice from the 7th century, which in turn had been erected over a Roman temple. In 1185 the high altar was consecrated and in 1187 the presbitery and part of the transept were finished. Construction lasted until the 15th century, while the bell tower was built 1436-1459. Of this first edifice remains the external Romanesque structure and the Greek cross plan, while the interior was widely modified in the 16th and 17th centuries. The transept has a fresco by Giotto (1347), depicting the Tree of Life. Noteworthy are the presbitery, the great Crucifix portraying the Painful Christ and the tomb of Gaetano Donizetti. The dome has frescoes by Giovanbattista Tiepolo.
Cappella Colleoni (Colleoni chapel), annexed to Santa Maria Maggiore, a masterwork of Renaissance architecture and decoration art.

The città alta is also home to two museums, the Museo Civico Archeologico (Archaeological Civic Museum) and the Museo di scienze naturali Caffi (Caffi Natural Science Museum).

[edit] Città bassa

Image:Bergamo-St.Gera.jpg

The lower city, having expanded rapidly during the 20th century, is the modern center of Bergamo.

Of artistic relevance are the Pinacoteca dell'Accademia Carrara (picture museum of Carrara academy), known as "Accademia Carrara" and the nearby Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (gallery of modern and contemporary art), known as GAMEC. The lower part of the city is diveded in many bourghs: Colognola, Valtesse,Redona,Borgo Palazzo,Celadina

[edit] History

Bergamo occupies the site of the ancient town of Bergomum, which was a Roman municipality. It was destroyed by Attila in the 5th century. Between 1264 and 1428 the town was ruled by Milan, but passed to Venetian control until 1797; the Venetians fortified the higher portion of the town.

Bergamo has a prominent place in music history. The large Romanesque church of Santa Maria Maggiore, begun in 1137, had a continuous and well-documented tradition of music teaching and singing for more than eight hundred years. Since the town was under Venetian control, the musical style of the Venetians was imported as well; in particular, a large instrumental ensemble grew up to support the choral singing. Composers such as Gasparo Alberti produced polychoral music with two organs, brass and viols, a style usually associated with Venice, but which flourished in the fine acoustical environment of S Maria Maggiore.

Prominent musicians born in Bergamo include Gaetano Donizetti, Pietro Locatelli, and Antonio Lolli. Alessandro Grandi, one of the most progressive composers of the early 17th century after Monteverdi, was maestro di cappella there until his death in the plague of 1630; Tarquinio Merula, an even more progressive composer, and one of the founders of the early sonata, took over his post. A famous musician that lived in Bergamo was maestro Gianandrea Gavazzeni.

Bergamo was the hometown and last resting place of Enrico Rastelli, a highly technical and world famous juggler who lived in this town and, in 1931, died here at the early age of 34 years. There is a life-sized statue to Rastelli within his mausoleum.

[edit] Miscellaneous

The town hosted the seventh Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne in 1951. The town has a Serie A team called Atalanta. The town hosted for about 45 years, from 1945 to 2000, the headquarter of the Mechanized Infantry Brigade "Legnano"