Piazza Vecchia has been the center of political power in Bergamo for centuries and still continues to be the place where people meet and enjoy their leisure time. The Piazza is overlooked by majestic and imposing buildings arranged according to a harmonious and perfect geometry, so much so that Le Corbusier said, “you can no longer touch even a stone, it would be a crime.”
What’s in the Old Square?
Prominent among them are the Palace of Reason, which dates back to the late 1100s and is the oldest existing municipal seat in Lombardy, and the Civic Tower, known as “the Campanone.” In the center of Piazza Vecchia you can admire the Contarini Fountain, donated to the city in 1780 by Podestà Alvise Contarini. On the opposite side of the square stands the Palazzo Nuovo, seat of the City Hall until 1873 and today of the Angelo Mai Library which preserves a priceless book heritage consisting of incunabula, cinquecentine, prints, manuscripts and other artifacts that make it one of the most important libraries in Italy.
History of Old Square
Built on the spot where the ancient Roman forum stood, the Piazza became the center of the medieval city. Originally limited to today’s Piazza Duomo, it is the site of public proclamations and the center of city commerce, as the iron bars placed on the side of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore still show. These bars are called “measures” and originated in medieval times, when the fragmentation of power also led to the fragmentation of magnitudes. Each city created its own units of measurement for weights, volumes, and lengths; which became an effective unit of measurement only if they were made public and guaranteed by authority, which is why municipalities displayed the official references in public places (usually where the market was held). The bars located on the wall of Santa Maria Maggiore thus represent the units of measurement in use in Bergamo during the medieval period.
Evolution of the Square
Piazza Vecchia as it exists today began to come to life only after the raising of the Palazzo della Ragione in the late 1100s, dividing the present space from the space behind the cathedral: the private houses that stood there were gradually torn down beginning in the 14th century. Once it reached its present size, the most important change took place at the end of Venetian rule with the construction of the beautiful Contarini Fountain, wanted both for reasons of embellishment of the heart of the city and for practical purposes (even today you can quench your thirst by drinking from its mouths representing sphinxes). It was replaced in the late 19th century by a statue dedicated to Giuseppe Garibaldi, only to be restored to its original form in 1922.
Curiosities
Watch where you put your feet, under the Palazzo della Ragione you will find anancient sundial built in the 18th century; at 12 noon sharp (with solar time) the ray filtering through the hole in the shield hanging from the arches will tell you the date and zodiac sign. If you find yourself in this square around 10 p.m. be prepared to hear the chimes of the Campanone, the Civic Tower that stands in the square-you should know that you will hear as many as 100 of them! For the past few years, in September, Piazza Vecchia has been revisited by “The Masters of Landscape.” An international event dedicated to landscape design, it hosts major international artists and landscape designers who transform the square each year, giving it a new green look that combines nature and landscape culture.