Chiesa di San Leonardo

Church at the heart of the Città Bassa houses miracle fresco

Chiesa San Leonardo, in Largo
Niccolo Rezzara in the lower town

Chiesa San Leonardo is believed to be the oldest church in Bergamo’s lower town and can be found in the middle of all the shops and bars in Largo Niccolo Rezzara, which is close to Via XX Settembre, Bergamo’s main shopping street.

San Leonardo Church was originally built in the 11th century, although the present building dates back to the 14th century. Originally, it would have been part of a group of buildings that included a convent and a hospital.

Dedicated to San Leonardo, who is the patron saint of the sick and prisoners, the church has a simple interior with a single nave and there is a small chapel to the right of the altar containing a very old fresco.

The original structure of the church was damaged by fire in 1310 and had to be rebuilt. It was suppressed in 1797 when Bergamo came under the rule of Napoleon, but was reopened for worship at the beginning of the 19th century.

The church was renovated at the end of the last century. The façade was reconstructed and the portal, the two side windows, and the central circular window were put back in.

In recognition of San Leonardo being the protector of prisoners, the church became a centre for the organisation of food to be delivered to places of punishment.

In the presbytery of the church, works by Antonio Cifrondi dating back to the late 17th century can be seen.

San Leonardo's
central aisle

The small chapel to the right of the main altar contains a very old fresco of the Madonna that was suddenly discovered in the church by worshippers. There is a story that in 1613, the fresco of Mary, the mother of Jesus, miraculously appeared in the church in a niche where a statue of the Virgin had been placed. It is thought that it was actually a very old fresco that had been covered up by lime, but that the covering had gradually worn away, eventually revealing the fresco.

Local women cleaned the fresco with rags, but when this was communicated to the bishop, he thought it should be covered up again because it had been cleaned with unsuitable cloths that had deconsecrated it.

However, worshippers appealed to the Sacred Roman Congregation and in 1618 they ruled that the fresco should be rediscovered and it went on to become a devotional image for Bergamo people to worship.

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Remembering artist Giovanni Paolo Cavagna

Prolific painter left a rich legacy of religious works in Bergamo

Frescoes by Giovanni Paolo Cavagna 
illuminate the dome of Santa Maria Maggiore

Late Renaissance painter Giovanni Paolo Cavagna, who became famous for his religious works of art, died 396 years ago today in his native city of Bergamo.

Cavagna was mainly active in Bergamo and Brescia, for most of his career, although he is believed to have spent some time training in Venice in the studio of Titian.

The artist was born in Borgo San Leonardo in the Città Bassa in about 1550. The painter Cristoforo Baschenis Il Vecchio is believed to have taken him as an apprentice from the age of 12. Cavagna is also thought to have spent time as a pupil of the famous Bergamo portrait painter Giovanni Battista Moroni.

Cavagna’s work can still be seen in many churches in Bergamo and villages in the surrounding area. In the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in the Città Alta there are paintings by him of the Assumption of the Virgin, the Nativity, and Esther and Ahasuerus.

The Church of Santa Spirito in the
 Città Bassa has works by Cavagna

In the Church of Santa Spirito in the Città Bassa, there are his paintings of Santa Lucia and the Crucifixion with Saints. He painted a Coronation of the Virgin for the Church of San Giovanni Battista in the province of Casnigo, which is to the north east of Bergamo, and some of his paintings can also be seen in the sanctuary of the Madonna del Castello in Almenno San Salvatore, a province to the north west of Bergamo.

The artist also completed a painting of the Crucifixion for the Church of Santa Lucia in Venice.

Cavagna’s son, Francesco, who became known as Cavagnuola, and his daughter, Caterina, also became painters.

After his death in Bergamo in 1627, Cavagna was buried in the Church of Santa Maria Immacolata delle Grazie in the Città Bassa, but after the reorganization of the lower town in the 19th century, the church was rebuilt and Cavagna’s tomb had to be moved, and it is now uncertain what happened to it.

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Enea Salmeggia – painter

Bergamo artist left treasure trove of pictures to remember him by

Enea Salmeggia's Il Martirio di Sant'Alessandro
hangs behind the altar of Sant'Alessandro in Colonna

Enea Salmeggia, who was active during the late Renaissance period and left behind a rich legacy of paintings in Lombardy, died on 25 February 1626 in Bergamo.

Salmeggia, also known as Il Talpino, or Salmezza, spent time in Rome as a young man, where he studied the works of Raphael. His style has often been likened to that of Raphael and he has even been dubbed the ‘Bergamo Raphael’ by some art enthusiasts. A drawing in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, of two figures seated along with some architectural studies, was previously attributed to Raphael, but has now been ascribed to Enea Salmeggia.

The artist was born at Salmezza, a frazione of Nembro, a comune in the province of Bergamo, between 1565 and 1570. It is known that Salmeggia grew up in Borgo San Leonardo in Bergamo, where his father, Antonio, was a tailor.

He learnt the art of painting from other Bergamo painters and is also believed to have studied under the Bergamo artist Simone Peterzano in Milan. Caravaggio was one of Peterzano’s most famous pupils and it has been suggested that Salmeggia could have been studying with Peterzano at about the same time as Caravaggio.

Salmeggia's Portrait of a Gentleman
can be seen at Accademia Carrara

Salmeggia was so young when he received his first commission to paint an Adoration of the Magi for the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo that his father had to sign the acceptance document on his behalf.

The artist married Vittoria Daverio, the sister of Milanese sculptor Pietro Antonio Daverio, and they had six children. Two of their children died from the plague and one went into a monastery, but his daughters, Chiara and Elisabetta, and his son, Francesco, helped in his workshop near the Church of Sant’Alessandro in Colonna in Via Sant’Alessandro, and they later became painters themselves.

One of Salmeggia’s most famous works, Il Martirio di Sant’Alessandro, an oil on canvas, completed in 1623, can still be seen behind the altar in the Church of Sant’Alessandro in Colonna.

The Church has a Roman column in front of it, which is believed to mark the exact spot where Bergamo’s patron saint, Sant’Alessandro was martyred by the Romans in 303 for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. Every year, on 26 August, the Festa di Sant’Alessandro, Bergamo people commemorates Sant’Alessandro’s decapitation there.

After Salmeggia died in Bergamo in 1626 he was buried in the Church of Sant’Alessandro in Colonna.

There are paintings by Salmeggia in the churches of Sant’Andrea and Santi Bartolomeo e Stefano in Bergamo and the Accademia Carrara, a prestigious art gallery in Bergamo, also has works by Salmeggia, including his Portrait of a Gentleman. Further afield, there are paintings by Salmeggia in Brescia, Lodi and Milan.

In Nembro, the suburb where Salmeggia was born, the Church of San Martino has no fewer than 27 of his paintings for visitors to admire.

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Church of Sant’Agostino Bergamo

A gem of Gothic architecture, the beautiful Church of Sant’Agostino, lies close to Porta Sant’Agostino, the gate marking the eastern entrance to the Città Alta.

The Gothic facade of the church of Sant'Agostino

The de- consecrated church was originally part of a monastery complex but is now used as a lecture theatre by Bergamo’s University and is also a venue for art exhibitions and events.

The sandstone church was built in Gothic style by the Eremitani Friars in 1290 and then passed to the Observant Friars in 1407, both belonging to the Sant’Agostino order.

By the 17th century the monastery complex had become an important centre for religious and cultural research.

Above the central rose window there is a marble statue of Sant’Agostino in a niche.

Inside, you can still see the medieval frescoed walls and original wooden ceiling beams.

It is believed the monastery complex once sheltered Martin Luther, who stayed there for one night on his way to Rome on the eve of his excommunication.

The open area in front of the church was once used as a defensive bastion for the city but is now the Fara park, a green space where sport is played and tired tourists can sit and relax.

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Porch of Santa Maria Maggiore Bergamo

Statue of Sant’Alessandro stands above Basilica entrance 

One of the most important and beautiful churches in Bergamo, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Piazza Duomo in the Città Alta, has so many fascinating architectural details that it is impossible to take them all in on your first visit.

The Basilica was built in the 12th century in the shape of a Greek cross but was modified in the 14th and 16th centuries.

The loggia above the entrance to the Basilica

The Basilica’s sacristry was demolished in the 15th century to make way for the Colleoni Chapel, which was built on the orders of Bergamo’s famous condottiero, Bartolomeo Colleoni, to house his own tomb.

The Colleoni Chapel, which stands next to Santa Maria Maggiore in Piazza Duomo, was designed by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo to harmonise with the architecture of the Basilica and it has come to be acknowledged as one of the finest Renaissance buildings in Italy.

But the porch to the left of the Colleoni Chapel, one of two entrances to the Basilica, is just as architecturally beautiful and can certainly hold its own with the Colleoni Chapel.

The entrance to Santa Maria Maggiore from Piazza Duomo was built by the architect Giovanni di Campione between 1351 and 1353. Above the archway there is a loggia with three arched niches containing statues. The Saints Barnaba and Proitettizio stand on either side of a statue of Bergamo’s patron saint, Sant’Alessandro, who is on horseback. You have to look up before you ascend the steps to the Basilica or you will miss it.

Every year on 26 August Bergamo commemorates the date in 303 that Sant’Alessandro was martyred by the Romans for refusing to renounce his Christian faith.

The porch is next to the Renaissance gem,
 the Colleoni Chapel

It is believed Alessandro was a devout citizen who had continued to preach Christianity in Bergamo, despite several narrow escapes from the Romans, but that he was eventually caught and suffered decapitation.

A series of religious, cultural and gastronomic events take place in his name over several days at the end of August throughout the city, which is decorated with festive lights.

Porta Sant’Alessandro, the gate which leads from the Città Alta to Borgo Canale and San Vigilio, was built in the 16th century as part of a massive project to protect the historic upper town with defensive walls. 

It was named after a fourth century cathedral that had originally been dedicated to the saint, but was later demolished by the occupying Venetian forces who were overseeing the rebuilding of the walls.

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Christmas in Bergamo

Natale adds extra sparkle to Lombardy’s hidden gem

The beautiful city of Bergamo has now become even more magical, adorned with thousands of twinkling lights, colourfully decorated Christmas trees and lovingly recreated nativity scenes, known in Italian as presepi.

Christmas tree lights up a corner of Piazza Vecchia

On Christmas Eve, la Vigilia di Natale, it was warm and sunny with a clear blue sky while people completed their Christmas shopping, with most of the shops open for business, even though it was a Sunday.

Hundreds of people dressed as Santa Claus - Babbo Natale to Italians - competed in a fun run for charity, Babbo Running, handily finishing on Via Sentierone in the Città Bassa, so they could go into the bars still in costume for a refreshing drink afterwards, adding to the festive atmosphere.

Babbo Running finishes in Bergamo's lower town

The night before Christmas, the buses and the funicular railway were running until late, making it possible to go up to the Città Alta to dine out.

Restaurants were open on both Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day, Natale, but were all filled to capacity, so it is well worth booking in advance, by either email or telephone, to make sure you get a table at your favourite.

There were Christmas concerts in many of the churches and more informal festive entertainment put on in some of the bars.

The talented Maysingers perform in the Tucans
 Pub in Via Donizetti

Some shops and bars were open on Christmas Day in the morning but there was no public transport running. Thankfully the day dawned bright and clear, with warm sunshine, making the walk up to the Città Alta enjoyable.

Many shops and businesses in the city had followed the custom of leaving a seat outside for Santa, adding to the festive atmosphere.

The shops were all filled with seasonal goodies, such as the traditional Panettone and Pan d’Oro and also torrone, a type of nougat made in Cremona, which is a traditional gift to take when visiting friends on Christmas morning. Negozio Sperlari in Via Solferino, in nearby Cremona, has become famous for making torrone. The concoction of almonds, honey and egg whites was created in the city to mark the marriage of Bianca Maria Visconti to Francesco Sforza in 1441, when Cremona was given to the bride as part of her dowry.

In one supermarket in Bergamo’s Città Bassa, a special offer enabled customers to buy a bottle of Aperol, a bottle of Prosecco and a very large bag of crisps, patatine, for just 10 euros,the makings of a very merry Christmas!

Supermarket special offer

Editor’s note: ‘Particular praise should go to the restaurant Il Sole in Via Colleoni just off Piazza Vecchia in the Città Alta. The restaurant was full for Christmas lunch and offered a very good à la carte menu. The courses were served promptly and all the dishes we ordered were hot and delicious. The staff were cheerful and attentive. It was a lovely convivial atmosphere and I would recommend the restaurant to anyone wishing to enjoy a good Christmas lunch in Bergamo’s Città Alta next year.’

For more information visit www.ilsolebergamo.com

Buon Natale e Buon Anno from Best of Bergamo !

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Antonio Moscheni – Bergamo painter

Antonio Moscheni made his own paints

 using vegetable dye

The painter Antonio Moscheni was born on this day in 1854 in the town of Stezzano, near Bergamo in Lombardy.

Educated at the prestigious Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, where he studied with accomplished masters, he learned the most advanced techniques. He also spent a year in Rome studying the masterpieces of the Vatican. 

When he returned to Bergamo his ability was in great demand. He was commissioned by many churches in the city and the surrounding area and his work at the Sanctuary of Madonna del Campo in his home town of Stezzano was particularly admired.

He exhibited his work in Milan and Turin and had the prospect of a brilliant career ahead of him. 

However in 1889, at the age of 35, Moscheni turned his back on fame to enter the Society of Jesus, enrolling himself as a lay brother.

But it was not the end of his career as an artist.  Aware of his talents, his superiors wasted no time, once his novitiate was completed, in despatching him to Croatia and Albania to work on Jesuit churches, and on his return sending him to Piacenza and Modena .

Moscheni is perhaps best known for the extraordinary frescoes he created in the chapel of St Aloysius College in Mangalore , India .

St Aloysius, situated in the state of Karnataka in south-west India, was built by Italian Jesuit Missionaries in 1880 and the chapel was added four years later.  A beautiful building, it would not look out of place in Rome and the Baroque extravagance of Moscheni's work, which adorns almost every available wall space and ceiling, makes it unique in India .

The chapel welcomes thousands of visitors each year simply to marvel at Moscheni's art for the vibrance of his colours and the intricacy of the detail.

Scenes depicted include the life of St. Aloysius, who as the Italian aristocrat Aloysius Gonzaga became a Jesuit and was studying in Rome when he died at the age of just 23, having devoted himself to caring for the victims of an outbreak of plague.

Also painted are the Apostles, the lives of the Saints and the life of Jesus. The picture of Jesus with a group of children on the rear wall, opposite the main altar, is considered the best of Moscheni’s work. 

The artist's skill enabled him to create the illusion of three dimensions, so that figures painted on flat walls, for example, appear at first glance to be statues.

Another interesting feature is the chapel floor, all of which is paved with stones brought from Bergamo which again creates the perception of three dimensions. Visitors at first can mistake the tiles for steps. 

Moscheni went to India in 1898 and remarkably, often hanging precariously from scaffolding, he painted the entire 829 square metres of surface area single-handed, using paints he made using vegetable dyes. The whole project took two and a half years.

Moscheni was also asked to decorate the Hospital Chapel at Kankanady, a local church and the Seminary of Mangalore before being invited to paint frescoes at the Holy Name Cathedral in Mumbai.

Moscheni moved from there to the Basilica of Santa Cruz at Fort Kochi, in the state of Kerala, at the personal invitation of the Bishop in 1905.  Sadly, Moscheni fell ill with dysentery while he was working there, although he battled against the illness and finished the job.

He died in November 1905, four days before the consecration of the church, and is said to have been buried at the Carmelite Monastery in Manjummel. 

Villa Moscheni is still a private home

Stezzano, situated just outside Bergamo, not far from the airport at Orio al Serio, marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Moscheni in 2005 when a bust created by a local sculptor, Learco Campana, was unveiled in the Biblioteca Comunale. 

Moscheni's home in Stezzano, the Villa Moscheni, in Via Carrara Beroa, is still in private ownership and includes some frescoes by Moscheni.

The historic centre of Stezzano is of medieval origin and has changed little in appearance. It is mainly characterised by former farmhouses and four substantial 17th century villas - the Villa Zanchi, Villa Morlani, Villa Maffeis and Villa Moroni, which dominates the picturesque Piazza Libertà.  

The grand parish church of San Giovanni Battista is a short distance away in Piazza Dante. The Sanctuary of Madonna dei Campi, which has works by Moscheni, can be found a little out of the centre, on the road towards Grumello del Piano. 

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Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi – Bishop of Bergamo

Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi

The progressive priest who shaped the destiny of a future Pope, Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi will be remembered today on the anniversary of his death in 1914 in Bergamo.

Radini-Tedeschi was Bishop of the Diocese of Bergamo from 1905 and is respected because of his strong involvement in social issues at the beginning of the 20th century.

Radini-Tedeschi was born in 1857 into a wealthy, noble family living in Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna. He was ordained as a priest in 1879 and then became professor of Church Law in the seminary of Piacenza.

In 1890 he joined the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and was sent on a number of diplomatic missions.

In 1905 he was named Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bergamo by Pope Pius X and was consecrated by him in the Sistine Chapel.

Radini-Tedeschi was a strong supporter of Catholic trade unions and backed the workers at a textile plant in the Ranica district of Bergamo province during a labour dispute.

Working for him as his secretary at the time was a young priest named Angelo Roncalli who had been born at Sotto il Monte just outside Bergamo into a large farming family.

Roncalli went on to become Pope John XXIII in 1958 but he never forgot the values Radini-Tedeschi had taught him.

The Church of Santa Maria Immacolata
delle Grazie in the Città Bassa

The Bishop became ill with cancer and died at the age of 57 just after the outbreak of the First World War. His last words are reputed to have been: ‘Angelo, pray for peace.’

A landmark in Bergamo’s Città Bassa, the church of Santa Maria Immacolata delle Grazie in Viale Papa Giovanni XXIII, has an association with Radini-Tedeschi.

The huge church opposite Porta Nuova has a 19th century green cupola topped with a golden statue with an early 20th century campanile next to it. But the origins of the church date back to 1422 when a convent was built on the site dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie. The beautiful cloisters have been preserved within the church buildings although the convent was suppressed at the beginning of the 19th century.

The neoclassical design for the new church was created by architect Antonio Preda towards the end of the 19th century and in 1907 the main altar was consecrated in the presence of the Bishop, Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi, accompanied by his 26-year-old secretary, Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII.

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Birth of Antonio Cifrondi

Artist left us accurate images of everyday 17th century life

Baroque artist Antonio Cifrondi was born on 11 June 1655 in Clusone,  just north of Bergamo.

Artist Antonio Cifrondi's self-portrait

He has become known for his religious works and his genre paintings of old men and women and of people at work, in which he depicts their clothing in great detail.

Much of his work is on display in art galleries and churches throughout the region of Lombardy.

His self-portrait can be seen in the church of Sant’Alessandro della Croce in Via Pignolo in the lower town. One of his most acclaimed works, a painting of An Old Woman with a Stick, can be seen at the Civic Museum of Art and History in Brescia.

Cifrondi was born into a poor family in Clusone, the main town in the Valle Seriana to the north east of Bergamo.

After training as a painter locally he moved to Bologna, and then to Turin and to Rome, where he stayed for about five years. He also worked briefly at the Palace of Versailles near Paris.

He came back to live in the Bergamo area in the 1680s, after which he painted many of his major works. He lived for the last years of his life in a convent near Brescia, where he died in 1730.

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Marvellous memento of your time in Bergamo

You can now take the beautiful sights of Bergamo’s Città Alta home with you, not just in your pictures, but also in the form of unique souvenirs.

Bookmark
depicting
towers

A range of gold-embossed, leather bookmarks has been created, depicting some of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the upper town.

The bookmarks are now on sale at the Caffè del Tasso in Piazza Vecchia in the Città Alta and at the gift shop in the Accademia Carrara in Piazza Giacomo Carrara in the Città Bassa.

Elisabetta Campanini - creator
 of Bergamo bookmarks

The souvenirs were the idea of Bergamo tour guide Elisabetta Campanini, who used to collect leather bookmarks, buying them at tourist attractions whenever she visited England.

Elisabetta was born and brought up in the Città Alta and is passionate about sharing her detailed knowledge of the upper town with the visitors she shows round.

“It was always my dream to create the same kind of leather bookmarks for my native city that I used to admire in England, to provide people with the opportunity to buy a souvenir of what they have seen during their stay in Bergamo,” she says.

Five different bookmarks

Each bookmark (segnalibro) shows a selection of architectural masterpieces in the Città Alta:

Complete set of Bergamo bookmarks

• One depicts Piazza Vecchia, with Palazzo della Ragione, the Contarini fountain and Civic Library.
• Another shows the landmark towers of the Città Alta - the Gombito Tower and the Campanone.
• There is a bookmark dedicated to the Colleoni Chapel, showing the façade of the building and details such as the rose window and coat of arms of the Colleoni family.
• Three churches, Santa Maria Maggiore, the Baptistery and the Tempietto are represented on a fourth bookmark. 
• And all four gates to the walled city, Porta San Giacomo, Porta San Lorenzo (also sometimes known as Porta Garibaldi), Porta Sant’Alessandro and Porta Sant’Agostino are shown on the fifth bookmark.

The bookmarks are made in Bergamo using high-quality Venetian leather and are on sale individually at five euros or can be bought as a set.

For more details, email freelance tour guide Elisabetta Campanini at info@acrossBergamo.com.

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