Celebrations in the Sentierone for Santa Lucia festival

The Church of San Spasimo can be found on
Via XX Settembre in Bergamo's shopping centre

A lovely tradition for children in Bergamo is to visit the Church of San Spasimo in the Città Bassa (lower town) in early December with letters asking for what presents they would like to receive.

The Church of San Spasimo is, appropriately, in Via XX Settembre at the hub of the shopping area.

It is also known locally as the church of Santa Lucia as, on 13 December, the saint’s feast day, it has become traditional for the children to lay their letters at the foot of the saint’s altar with their Christmas wish lists.

According to tradition, Santa Lucia comes down from the sky with a cart and a donkey and distributes the gifts to all the children who have been good, while all the naughty children receive only a piece of coal.

Adding to the festive atmosphere in Bergamo are the bancarelle (stalls) along Via Sentierone to celebrate la festa di Santa Lucia. Along with the stalls selling gifts and sweets there are also presepi (stable scenes) and Christmas music to entertain the crowds.

Santa Lucia - or Saint Lucy - whose name means 'light' in Italian, was a Sicilian saint who died in medieval times.

She saw an angel while praying about her mother’s terminal illness and subsequently devoted her life to promoting Christianity and distributed her inheritance among the poor.

Christmas really starts to take off in Italy with the feasting and celebrations dedicated to this popular saint on 13 December.

Buona Festa!

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Sample Italy's new wine in Bergamo

Delicious Vino Novello

Light, fruity Vino Novello 2012 is now on sale in the shops and being served in bars and restaurants in Bergamo.
If you are planning to visit the city during November, make sure you take advantage of the opportunity to taste some of Italy's new wine, which would be a bargain buy to take home with you because it is relatively inexpensive.
Vino Novello is similar in taste, body and colour to the French Beaujolais Nouveau, which is traditionally exported to other countries after its release. Like Beaujolais Nouveau, Italy's new wine should be drunk quickly after the bottle is opened and unopened bottles should be kept for a few months only.
Although the major area for production tends to be the Veneto, some of Bergamo's local wine producers, who are famous for making Valcalepio, also release their Vino Novello after 6 November each year.
Look out for events and festivals being held in the villages and towns around Bergamo to celebrate the launch of the new wine. Salute!  


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Caravaggio

Birthday of artist honoured by Bergamo airport

Caravaggio

The brilliant but controversial artist Caravaggio was born in Milan 441 years ago today.

His real name was Michelangelo Merisi but he became known as Caravaggio because he spent the early years of his life living in the small town of Caravaggio just south of Bergamo .

It is believed his family moved there because of an outbreak of plague in Milan after his birth in 1571.

He later returned to Milan to train as a painter and then went on to work in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily until his death at Porto Ercole in Tuscany in 1610.

Caravaggio became famous for his paintings for churches and palaces that combined a realistic observation of the physical and emotional state of human beings with a dramatic use of lighting. This was a formative influence for the baroque school of painting.

Despite his artistic success he had a turbulent personal life. He was thrown into jail on several occasions, once vandalised his own apartment and had a death warrant issued for him by the Pope.

Some of his major works, such as The Calling of St Matthew, the Crucifixion of St Peter and Deposition, can be found in churches in Rome, but his work is also well represented in the Uffizi gallery in Florence .

The town of Caravaggio is well worth visiting to see the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Caravaggio, which was built in the 16th century on the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a local peasant woman.

The Sanctuary was later rebuilt and completed in the 18th century and is now a grand building visited by pilgrims from all over the world.

Last year Bergamo airport at Orio al Serio changed its name to the Caravaggio International Airport Bergamo - Orio al Serio.

ENAC (the Italian civil aviation board) approved the decision by SACBO (the management company of Bergamo airport) to dedicate the airport to the painter.

Bergamo airport is also often referred to as ‘Milan Bergamo’. It is now the fourth busiest airport in Italy and you can fly to it from 29 different countries.

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Trattoria Caprese Bergamo

Neapolitan specialities in a northern Italian city

The colourful pizza oven at Trattoria Caprese

Enjoy a taste of southern Italy in the heart of Bergamo’s Citta Bassa at Trattoria Caprese.

The restaurant’s extensive menu offers authentic dishes from Naples, Capri and Sorrento served up in brightly decorated surroundings.

Trattoria Caprese also has branches in Naples, Porto Cervo, Monza and Brescia .

The Bergamo restaurant is in Via Daniele Piccinini, which is a turning off Rotonda dei Mille (the junction with the statue of Garibaldi). It is open seven days a week serving from 12.00 to 15.30 and from 19.00 to 00.30, when last orders are taken.

Trattoria Caprese prides itself on its Neapolitan atmosphere and friendly waiters, who aim to make the customers feel at home.

Among the antipasti selection are frittura napoletana (a deep fried selection) and mozzarella in carrozza (a deep fried sandwich of mozzarella and anchovies.)

A distinctive feature of the restaurant is the colourful, tiled pizza oven and there is a comprehensive pizza and calzone list to choose from.

Among the primi piatti are gnocchi alla sorrentina (gnocchi with cheese and tomatoes) and risotto alla pescatora (seafood risotto). For secondi there is fresh fish, frittura del golfo (mixed fried fish), scaloppina (a veal escalope served with either lemon, white wine or mushrooms), grilled meat dishes and main course salads.

As well as the pleasant house wine, Trattoria Caprese offers a good selection of Campanian labels such as Falanghina, Greco and Fiano di Avellino.

Editor’s note: “On my last visit the restaurant was packed with local Bergamo people who were enjoying the authentic Neapolitan atmosphere and food. Our waiter brought us things to nibble and a portion of seafood pasta to sample along the way, as well as complimentary limoncello and meloncello at the end of the meal.”  

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Beauty of Bergamo’s branch of Banca d’Italia

Banca d'Italia building in Bergamo

One of the most impressive buildings in Bergamo’s Città Bassa (lower town) is the Banca d’Italia in Viale Roma.

You will pass it on the right hand side as you go up to the Città Alta (upper town) by bus or walk to the funicular station further up the road.

Built of brown stone in keeping with the other public buildings erected at the beginning of the 20th century in the Città Bassa, the bank has a decorative façade. It was built in 1924 to a neo-Renaissance design by Marcello Piacentini, a Roman architect who had been commissioned with redesigning the Città Bassa in Bergamo in 1907.

The building has since become a symbol of Bergamo’s strong commercial and banking tradition.

The Banca d’Italia in Bergamo provides services for other banks and for Poste Italiane but does not offer services to the general public.

Decorative ceiling in the entrance to the bank

If you go up the steps in front of the three arched porticos you will be able to admire the paintings on the ceiling of the entrance lobby.

The Banca d’Italia is the central bank of Italy and part of the European system of central banks. It was established in 1893 from the amalgamation of four existing major banks in Italy .

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Visit Bergamo at festival time

Roman column marks where
 Sant'Alessandro was killed

The end of August is a great time to visit Bergamo as the city is in celebratory mood because of the festa for their patron saint Sant’Alessandro.

Every year on 26 August Bergamo commemorates the date in AD 298 that Saint Alexander was martyred by the Romans for refusing to renounce his Christian faith.

It is believed Alessandro was a devout citizen who had insisted on preaching in Bergamo, despite having had several narrow escapes. But he was eventually caught by Roman soldiers and suffered decapitation.

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

In 2010 for the first time there was a re-enactment of Alessandro’s execution in full costume at the place where it is believed to have been carried out, in Via Sant’Alessandro, where the church of Sant’Alessandro in Colonna now stands.

A Roman column outside the church marks the spot where the decapitation is said to have happened.

Church bells will ring out all over the city to herald the start of the festival beginning at 10.00 on Saturday 25 August. A fair to mark Sant’Alessandro’s festa will be held in Via Sentierone in the Città Bassa on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 August. There will also be a street art exhibition and musical entertainment.

Porta Sant’Alessandro, which leads from the Città Alta (upper town) to Borgo Canale and San Vigilio, was built in the 16th century. It was named after a fourth century cathedral that had originally been dedicated to the saint but was demolished to make way for the fortifications built round the Città Alta by the Venetians who ruled the city at the time.

The gate became a checkpoint manned by customs officers, who would tax farmers from outside the city bringing in vegetables, eggs, chickens and wine to sell to residents of the Città Alta (upper town).

 

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Busy Porta Sant’Agostino was built to protect Bergamo

Porta Sant'Agostino

The grey, sandstone Porta Sant’Agostino is the most popular way of entering Bergamo’s Città Alta (upper town).

Buses and cars from the Città Bassa (lower town) will climb Viale Vittorio Emanuele II and pass under the gate’s central archway before turning left and travelling along Viale delle Mura.

Pedestrians can use the smaller archways at the side to enter the Città Alta and walk along Via Porta Dipinta to reach Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe. From there the ancient Via Gombito leads to Piazza Vecchia in the centre of the upper town.

Porta Sant’Agostino is believed to have been designed by Paolo Berlendis and was built in 1575 during the huge project to improve the fortifications of the Città Alta.

Sant'Agostino fountain

The stone carving of the Venetian lion over the central archway was added more recently to replace earlier insignia that had been removed by invaders.

The beautiful fountain behind Porta Sant’Agostino was built in the same style as the gate later in the 16th century for the benefit of travellers arriving in the city.

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