Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
he'd have been following a certain precedent. The Renaissance square was created by
bulldozing the huddle of medieval housing that once stood there.
The white porticoed building on Via Bartolomeo Colleoni, which forms the northern
side of the piazza, is the Palazzo Nuovo MAP GOOGLE MAP . Designed in 1611 by a brilliant ar-
chitectural mind from Vicenza, Vincenzo Scamozzi (1548-1616), it was not actually com-
pleted until 1928. Long the seat of the town hall, it has been a library since 1873. Diagon-
ally opposite, on the northwest side of the square, the Palazzo del Podestà MAP GOOGLE MAP
was long home to Venice's representative in Bergamo.
Turn south and you face the imposing arches and columns of the Palazzo della Ragione MAP
GOOGLE MAP , built in the 12th century. The lion of St Mark is a reminder of Venice's long
reign here. It's an early 20th-century replica of the 15th-century original, which was torn
down when Napoleon took over in 1797. Note the sun clock in the pavement beneath the
arches and the curious Romanesque and Gothic animals and busts decorating the pillars of
the arches. Until the Accademia Carrara ( Click here ) reopens, a selection of its master-
pieces is on show in Palazzo della Ragione.
Across the square from the palace, the colossal, square-based Torre del Campanone MAP
GOOGLE MAP (adult/child €3/free; 9.30am-6pm Tue-Fri, 9.30am-8pm Sat & Sun Apr-Oct, 9.30am-1pm &
2.30-6pm Tue-Fri, 9.30am-6pm Sat & Sun Nov-Mar) tolls the old 10pm curfew. Originally raised in the
12th century and partly used as a jail in the 14th, it has undergone numerous alterations. In
1486, cheerful citizens lit a bonfire atop the tower to celebrate a religious holiday. Oddly,
they didn't foresee that this would lead to the timber roof catching and burning to a crisp,
leading to one of the many renovations. Lighting fires is no longer allowed but you can
take a wheelchair-accessible lift to the top, from where there are splendid views.
Duomo
MAP GOOGLE MAP
( 035 21 02 23; Piazza del Duomo; 7.30-11.45am & 3-6.30pm) Roman remains were discovered
during renovations of Bergamo's baroque cathedral. A rather squat maroon building, it has
a brilliant white facade. Among the relics in a side chapel is the one-time coffin of the be-
atified Pope John XXII.
CATHEDRAL
Museo e Tesoro Della Cattedrale
MAP GOOGLE MAP
MUSEUM
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