Bergamo

Bergamo, a province of Lombardy region, is a town of medieval origins and is surrounded by the Alps. The town has two centres: Bergamo Alta (upper city), a hilltop medieval town, surrounded by defensive walls. You can reach it by walking up to the scorlazzini, typical stairways leading down to Bergamo Bassa (lower city) that can also be reached by car (in certain periods only), bus or cable railway. The main square in Bergamo Alta is Piazza Vecchia with a fountain by Contarini, the Torre Civica (the municipal tower known as Campanone; every day, at 10 o'clock p.m. the bell rings 130 times indicating the closure of the gates, as it happened in the past), various historical buildings among which Palazzo della Ragione and the Library "Angelo Mai". Other interesting sites are: Cappella Colleoni (Colleoni Chapel) by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, a monument dedicated to the captain Bartolomeo Colleoni, the Duomo (Cathedral), the Battistero (Baptistery) and the Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore housing inlays of multicoloured woods representing biblical scenes by Lorenzo Lotto, a sculptured confessional by Andrea Fantoni, in Baroque style, and the tomb of the famous composer Gaetano Donizetti. Other important cultural sites in Bergamo Alta are: the Museo Civico Archeologico (Municipal Archeological Museum), the Museo “Enrico Caffi” , museum of natural sciences, the renowned Faculty of Foreing Languages and Literature, and a botanic garden. In Bergamo Bassa you can find the interesting Museo Matris Domini, situated in the ancient part of the Dominican Monastery, housing interesting frescos dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, glass tondos dating back to the 14th century in the apsis of the church, and a fresco of San Domenico dating back to the 16th century. Bergamo is a lively city full of events such as Bergamo Film Meeting, an international film festival, Festival Internazionale del Folclore (International Folk Festival), Festival Pianistico Internazionale “Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli” (International Pianist Festival), Jazz Festival; modern art exhibitions held at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea and Accademia Carrara (picture gallery and academy of fine arts); the Fiera di Sant’Antonio Abate (Fiera dei biligocc, religious festival dedicated to Sant'Antonio Abate).