Places to see in ( Bergamo - Italy ) Castello di San Vigilio
Places to see in ( Bergamo - Italy ) Castello di San Vigilio
Representing a clearly visible symbol of power, San Vigilio Castle has been the residence of Bergamo’s numerous rulers for centuries. It is located 496 meters above the sea level, on top of the hill that gives it its name, overlooking the Città Alta: that’s why it used to have a strategic role in case of attacks. From its top, you can see the Mount Bastia nearby and the villages of the old Breno valley (called Valbrembo and Paladina today), along with the Almenno plain, also known as Lemine, once renowned for being an important trade centre, and the hamlets located all along the street leading to the Brembana valley. This spectacular and vast landscape also embraces a significant part of the pre-Alps. The circle plan of the building resembles a star, featuring the four towers called Castagneta, Belvedere, Del Ponte and San Vigilio. Its basements are very tortuous: a tunnel (accessible in part) was also found, connecting the Castle directly to the northern side of the hills fortification, inside the San Marco Fortress.
The first news about a fortification on the Hill dates back to the VI Century after Christ, even if we can’t rule out the presence some previous Roman buildings. In 889, the future king of Italy Arnolfo di Carinzia decided to conquer it, sending away the religious community inhabiting it since the VI Century, which had built a small fortress called Castello della Cappella (Chapel’s Castle), dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene.
The structure thus became a strategic military post, to the extent that in 1166 Bergamo Town Council decided to build a bigger castle. Thanks to the work of Milan’s Duchy in the XIV Century and mostly of the Republic of Venice in The XV Century, San Vigilio Castle underwent further enlargements and reinforcements. Many changes were carried out, including the four fortified towers provided with casemates and embrasures connected one another by a defensive wall and a protection moat.
During the XVI Century the Castle endured numerous sieges by the French and the Spanish. Therefore, a massive defensive wall was built, while the central medieval tower was demolished in order to let more garrisons get in; besides, the castled was equipped with the soldiers’ accommodations and the castellan’s house.
In the end of the XIX Century, the Castle begun to be seen as touristic attraction: the entire historical complex was purchased by the Soregaroli family to open a restaurant. It was a kind of premonition, as today the San Vigilio hill, with its two fancy restaurants, is considered one of the best places to have a romantic dinner. The San Vigilio funicular, established in 1912 to connect the hill to Sant’Alessandro Gate, also enhances the charming atmosphere
Later, the Castle was bought by Bergamo’s Municipality and opened to the public in 1962, while the funicular (closed since 1976) was reactivated in 1991. Currently the secret passage linking the San Marco Fortress with the Castle can be visited, thanks to the activity of a speleological group called “Le Nottole”, which arranges guided tours on request.
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BERGAMO - Italy Travel Guide | Around The World
Bergamo, also called La Città dei Mille ('The City of the Thousand') is a city in Lombardy, northern Italy, about 30 km (19 mi) from Switzerland, 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Milan, 30 km (19 mi) from the Alpine lakes Como and Iseo, and 80 km (50 mi) from the Alpine lakes Garda and Maggiore. The foothills of the Bergamo Alps begin immediately north of the town, where legend has it that Leonardo da Vinci visited the famous water source of S.Pellegrino, in San Pellegrino Terme.The Venetian walls of Bergamo's Città Alta (Upper City) have been listed among UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.
The city of Bergamo is composed of two parts: there is the suspended Città Alta (Upper City, Bèrghem de Hüra in Bergamasque dialect), the historic core built up on the hills, and the Città Bassa (Lower City, Bèrghem de Hota in Bergamasque dialect), which is a lively financial centre of national importance. The two parts are separated, both physically and symbolically, by the powerful Venetian defensive systems, that are a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 9 July 2017. The Funicular Città Alta - Città Bassa connects the core of the suspended Upper City with the modern Lower City. Bergamo is situated within the Natural Park of Bergamo Hills.
As of 2015, Bergamo is the second most visited city in Lombardy after Milan. The region of Lombardy produces about a quarter of Italy's GDP, making it the wealthiest region in the country and one of the richest in the European Union. Lombardy is Italy's second wealthiest region in terms of GDP per capita, after Südtirol/Trentino-Alto Adige.
Bergamo is well connected to several cities in Italy, thanks to the motorway A4 stretching on the axis between Milan, Verona, Venice, Turin and Trieste. The city is served by Il Caravaggio International Airport (5 km), the third-busiest airport in Italy with 12.3 million passengers in 2017. The 2017 43rd G7 summit on agriculture was held in Bergamo, in the context of the broader international meeting organized in Taormina. The Chart of Bergamo commits the Group of Seven to reduce hunger for 500 milion people worldwide by 2030, to strengthen cooperation for agricultural development in Africa, to combat food waste, and to ensure price transparency.
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.
When 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 music with polyphony using two organs, brass and viols, a style usually associated with Venice, but which flourished in the fine acoustic environment of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The city lent its name to a style of folk dance known as bergamask peculiar to the peoples of that region. Known as bergomasci and renowned for their buffoonery, the fool Bottom in Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night's Dream refers to their Bergomask dance. This unconventional form gave Debussy a vehicle for the dissonances and irregular intervals of his Suite bergamasque. Prominent musicians born in Bergamo include Gaetano Donizetti, Pietro Locatelli, Antonio Lolli, Gianluigi Trovesi, Roby Facchinetti, Alfredo Piatti, Fabrizio Frigeni and Gianandrea Gavazzeni. 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.
Bergamo's football team is Atalanta who play in the top level Serie A at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia.
The town has a women's volleyball team named Foppapedretti Bergamo.
The city is also home to the Bergamo Lions American football team, one of the most successful in European Football League history, winning multiple Eurobowls.
Bergamo is served by Il Caravaggio International Airport 5 km (3 mi) south-east of the town, the third busiest airport in Italy, serving 10.404.625 million passengers in 2015. The city is also served by Milan Linate Airport 50 km (31 mi) south-west of Bergamo.
Eurotrip: Winter 2015
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