Bergamo celebrates start of Christmas

Decorated trees abound
 in Italy at Christmas

Today is a public holiday in Bergamo when banks and offices will be closed, special masses will take place in the churches and people will celebrate the beginning of Christmas.
Il giorno dell’immacolata concezione (the day of the immaculate conception) has been celebrated for centuries on 8 December in Italy.
It is an official festa (feast day) when the immaculate conception of Jesus is celebrated in the Christian calendar. It also marks the start of the Christmas season when the lights and trimmings start to go up.
Although the banks and public offices are closed, all the shops in Bergamo will be open as usual and probably doing an even brisker trade, with many people not at work taking the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping.
As in many other countries across the world, Christmas shopping actually starts much earlier than 8 December in Italy, with Christmas trees, lights and decorations going up during November.
Via XX Settembre in Bergamo’s Citta Bassa (lower town), which is known as ‘the shopping street’ locally, will be thronged with activity until Christmas Eve.


Buona Festa!

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Bergamo painter Moroni made his subjects come alive

Moroni's work is on display in the Palazzo della Ragione

One of the most celebrated 16th century Italian portrait painters, Giovan Battista Moroni, was born at Albino just outside Bergamo.

Moroni is renowned for the vitality and realism of his portraits, for which he was once praised by Titian.

Although some of his work is in international galleries and some is in private collections, it is possible to see examples of Moroni’s work in Bergamo.

The exact year of his birth is uncertain, but it is believed to have been somewhere between 1510 and 1522.

He began his artistic training in the mid 1530s under a religious painter from Brescia, Alessandro Bonvicino.

Moroni’s legacy of portraits shows the way society evolved in Bergamo in the 16th century as he received commissions both from noblemen and wealthy, middle class merchants.

The Accademia Carrara in Bergamo has some fine examples of Moroni’s portraits in its vast collection. Although it is currently closed for restoration, you can see some of Moroni’s work in the exhibition currently being held in the Palazzo della Ragione in the Piazza Vecchia in Bergamo’s Città Alta (upper town).

Sant'Alesssandro
della Croce

Moroni also painted religious subjects and while he was working in Trento towards the end of his life was the first painter to reflect aspects of the Reformation in his work.

One of his finest religious works, the Coronation of the Virgin, can be seen in the church of Sant’Alessandro della Croce in Via Pignolo in Bergamo’s Città Bassa (lower town).

Moroni was in the middle of painting a Last Judgment for the church at Gorlago near Bergamo when he died on 5 February, 1578.

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Visit the nativity scenes in Bergamo churches

A window display of presepio figures

From early December, churches in Bergamo will have their presepio (nativity scene) on display.

The tradition of recreating the birth of Jesus with a presepio dates back to the 13th century in Italy. Many families will also have a presepio in their homes and you will see shops selling either a complete presepio -- or figures and materials so that you can make your own -- in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

An interesting trip from Bergamo is a visit to the Museo del Presepio at Brembo di Dalmine to the south of the city.

Founded 35 years ago, the museum in Via XXV Aprile has more than 800 different nativity scenes in a variety of shapes and sizes from all over the world on display.

There are many examples from the 17th century, which was considered a golden age for the production of the presepio in Italy .

There is also a library of books, stamps, pictures, postcards and photographs depicting the presepio.

The museum is open every day between December and January from 14.00 to 18.00 and on Sundays from 9.00 till 12.00 and from 14.00 till 19.00. During the other months it is open from Thursday to Sunday only.

The Museo del Presepio is situated not far from the A4 autostrada to Milan , which you should leave at the Casello Dalmine exit.

For information about buses to Brembo di Dalmine visit www.bergamotrasporti.it.

Look out for shops selling figures to enable you to make your own presepio when you get home.

One of the most famous places for production is Naples, where there is an entire street in the centro storico, Via San Gregorio Armeno, lined with shops that sell figures and props for the presepio all year round.

Producers have now even branched out into making figures of celebrities, sportsmen and politicians to place in the presepio along with the traditional characters, so don’t be surprised if you see a Barack Obama or a Silvio Berlusconi among the shepherds.

Language point

Presepio or presepe

You will see the words presepio and presepe both used to refer to a nativity scene in Italy. The words both literally mean ‘crib’.

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Lunch by the lake at Sirmione

Sirmione's Rocca Scaligera

A good day out from Bergamo in the run up to Christmas would be a trip to Sirmione, a resort on Lake Garda where there are plenty of shopping opportunities, ranging from market stalls to high class fashion boutiques.
Sirmione lies in a dramatic setting on a narrow, four kilometre peninsula reaching out into the lake. It has a medieval centre full of interesting things to see and is well served by bars and restaurants
You could treat yourself to lunch at the elegant Ristorante Risorgimento in Piazza Carducci in the heart of the historic centre.
The restaurant was established in Sirmione’s salottino (little drawing room) near the lake more than 100 years ago and continues to offer good hospitality, food and wine.
Ristorante Risorgimento specialises in seafood and flambé dishes and serves bread and dolce (desserts) made on the premises.
The restaurant claims to have carefully selected each of the 700 quality labels offered on its wine list. It would be a good place to try Lugana, a light, dry white wine, and Bardolino, a soft, fruity red wine, as they are both produced by vineyards in the area.
Ristorante Risorgimento is open every day except Tuesday. Visit www.risorgimento-sirmione.com for more information.
The views of Lake Garda from Sirmione have inspired many writers over the centuries, from Roman poet Catullus, to Ezra Pound and James Joyce in the 20th century, who once met up in the resort.
Sirmione’s castle, la Rocca Scaligera, was built by a powerful family from Verona in the 13th century and Italian poet Dante is said to have once spent the night there. It is well worth a visit for the views of the lake from the battlements.
You can also look round the ruins of the Roman villa, built in the first century BC, that you will see perched on a rocky promontory. Although they are known as Le Grotte di Catullo, it is by no means certain Catullus ever lived there, although he is believed to have spent part of his life in Sirmione and singled out the resort for special praise from ‘…all peninsulas and isles, that in our lakes of silver lie…’
Opera singer Maria Callas also appreciated Sirmione, choosing to live for nine years in a secluded villa there.
To reach Sirmione from Bergamo by train, travel to Brescia and catch the Milan to Venice express, getting off at Desenzano del Garda-Sirmione station. It takes about an hour to reach Sirmione from Bergamo by car via the A4 Autostrada.

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The day beautiful music was born in Bergamo

A portrait housed at
 the Donizetti Museum

Composer Gaetano Donizetti was born 213 years ago today in Via Borgo Canale, a few metres outside the walls of Bergamo’s Città Alta (upper town).
A prolific composer of operas in the early part of the 19th century, Donizetti was a major influence on Verdi, Puccini and other Italian composers who came after him.
Visitors to Bergamo can see the place where Donizetti was born on 29 November 1797, marked by a plaque at number 14 in the middle of a row of characteristic tall houses.
Leave the Città Alta through Porta Sant’Alessandro and go past the station for the San Vigilio funicolare. You will find Via Borgo Canale is the next street on the right.
Donizetti was the fifth of six children born to a textile worker and his wife. He once wrote about his birthplace: “…I was born underground in Borgo Canale. One descended the stairs to the basement, where no ray of sunlight had ever been seen. And like an owl I flew forth…”
The house is open to the public at weekends only. Check the opening times with the Tourist Information Office in Via Gombito.
Donizetti developed a love for music and despite the poverty of his family benefited from early tuition in Bergamo. He went on to compose some of the greatest lyrical operas of all time such as Lucia di Lammermoor and L’Elisir d’Amore.
After a magnificent career Donizetti returned to Bergamo and died in 1843 in the Palazzo Scotti, where he was living as a guest, in the street now named Via Donizetti in the Città Alta.

Via Borgo Canale

There is a museum dedicated to his life and career in the Città Alta, housed in the former Palazzo Misericordia Maggiore in Via Arena.
Donizetti’s tomb is in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Piazza Duomo in the Città Alta.
A monument dedicated to him was erected in Bergamo in 1897 - 100 years after his birth - near Teatro Donizetti in Via Sentierone in the Città Bassa (lower town).

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Bergamo Bassa church ceremony attended by future pope

Santa Maria Immacolata delle Grazie

A landmark of Bergamo's Città Bassa (lower town) is the impressive church of Santa Maria Immacolata delle Grazie in Viale Papa Giovanni XXIII.

The huge church on the corner of 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 itself was suppressed at the beginning of the 19th century.

The neoclassical design for the new church was created between 1855 and 1857 by architect Antonio Preda and the first stone was laid on 1 May 1857 by the bishop at the time, Monsignore Pierluigi Speranza.

On 7 December 1907 the main altar was consecrated in the presence of the then bishop Giacomo Maria Radini Tedeschi, who was accompanied by his 26-year-old secretary Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, a native of Bergamo and the future Pope John XXIII.

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Bergamo birthplace of popular Pope John

Bergamo Bassa's tree-lined main thoroughfare is named
after Pope John XXIII

The much loved Pope John XXIII was born 129 years ago today at Sotto il Monte to the west of Bergamo.

He was tutored by a local priest before entering the seminary at Bergamo at the age of 12. He went on to study theology in Rome and rose to become Cardinal Patriarch of Venice before being elected Pope in 1958.

Born Angelo Roncalli on 25 November 1881, he was the third of 13 children in a farming family.

His religious studies were interrupted by a spell in the Italian army but he was ordained in 1904.

He served as secretary to the Bishop of Bergamo for nine years before becoming an army chaplain in World War One.

After the war he worked in Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece on behalf of the church helping to locate prisoners of war.

In 1944 he was appointed nuncio (envoy) to Paris to help with the post war effort in France. He became a Cardinal in 1953 and expected to spend his last years serving the church in Venice .

When he was elected Pope by his fellow cardinals in the conclave of 20 October 1958 it was a turning point in the church’s history.

Pope John XXIII

Although he was Pope for less than five years, he enlarged the College of Cardinals to make it more representative, consecrated 14 new bishops for Asia and Africa, advanced ecumenical relations and worked for world peace.

Since his death on 3 June 1963 his home and the museum set up to commemorate his life in Sotto il Monte have become popular destinations for pilgrims.

There is a permanent reminder of him in Bergamo’s Città Bassa (lower town) where the main thoroughfare from the railway station to Porta Nuova has been named Viale Papa Giovanni XXIII. 

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