An unusual adventure among fortresses, cloisters, former monasteries and more.
Since 2017, Bergamo’s Venetian Walls have become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is from one of its iconic gateways, San Giacomo, that your journey to discover their secrets among fortresses, embrasures, cloisters and former monasteries begins…
It starts from one of Bergamo’s panoramic points par excellence: the Porta di San Giacomo, from here, in fact, you can enjoy one of the most beautiful views of the Lower Town. It is the only pedestrian access and the only door to have a facade in Zandobbio marble.
Continue walking along the route of the walls, you will soon spot a steel structure placed on a stone support: it is an unusual sundial that marks daylight saving time, solar time and the compass rose. Nearby, you will also find a metal staircase that will lead you to discover the Cannoniera di San Giovanni, one of the vestiges of armed defense used during Venetian rule.
Fun fact: From this stretch of the Walls, during clear days, sharpen your eyesight and try to spot the skyline of nearby Milan…
Continue the route until you reach the top of the Upper Town, where the second gate of the city wall stands imposingly: Porta Sant’Alessandro.
It owes its name to the Basilica of the same name, of which only a column remains as evidence; try to spot it!
Continue remaining within the city walls, take Via Beltrami going slightly uphill and near the Botanical Garden you can admire the Polveriera Superiore di San Marco, a seventeenth-century lead-lined structure once used to store gunpowder.
Then, retracing your steps briefly, access by crossing the passageway alongside the Adalberto Tower to the Cittadella Viscontea, a characteristic square in Città Alta that still houses several signs of its varied past.
Once past the Piazza, locate Via della Boccola following your left: you will find one of the entrances to theformer Carmine Monastery, which today, thanks to a redevelopment project in a cultural key by Bergamo’s Pocket Theater, offers numerous initiatives and events not to be missed!
Continuing along Via Boccola, you arrive at the San Lorenzo Gate, opposite the San Giacomo Gate, the smallest and oldest of the walls.
Go up Via San Lorenzo, the effort of the small climb will be repaid by the view of the city’s tallest tower: the medieval Torre del Gombito, which today welcomes tourists and visitors from all over the world.
Peek into the tourist office and ask for directions to reach Piazza Mercato del Fieno where theformer convent of San Francesco is located and discover the panoramic terrace that offers the eye an unmissable horizon: the intersection of the two valleys, Brembana and Seriana inside the cloister.
Next, from Hay Market Square, follow Via Solata and then Via alla Rocca until you reach the site of the Museum of the 1800s: the ancient 14th-century fortress, the Rocca.
Its Remembrance Park is another of the must-see scenic spots in the Upper Town!
From the Rocca, reach Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe and take Via Porta Dipinta. You go downhill to reach the last stage of the itinerary: Sant’Agostino and the Fara.
Go through the arch of Porta Sub Foppis and enjoy the view of the Fara Park on whose background appears majestically theformer Monasteryof Sant’Agostino, now the seat of the University of Bergamo.
Continue in the direction of the former Monastery until you reach the door of the same name, the main and monumental access to the Upper City.
Past the complex, on the right side of Viale delle Mura, you will be able to notice an opening that goes gently underground; it is the entrance to the Cannoniera di San Michele: one of the most evocative places in underground Bergamo, once used for cannons and ammunition today a cavern entirely decorated with stupendous stalactites and stalagmites.
This is where the itinerary to discover the secrets of the walls ends, but there is nothing to stop you from continuing to walk along the city walls and be amazed by the glimpses it gives of Bergamo!