Bergamo’s tribute to Donizetti

Donizetti monument in Piazza Cavour

Opera lovers will not want to miss paying a visit to the monument to composer Gaetano Donizetti situated in Bergamo’s Città Bassa (lower town).

It was erected in 1897 in Piazza Cavour, off the Sentierone, to commemorate the first anniversary of Donizetti’s birth.

An imposing structure in white marble, it depicts the composer sitting on a bench gazing at the figure of a female playing the lyre.

Set in the middle of a pond and surrounded by plants and trees, the monument is inscribed simply ‘A Gaetano Donizetti’.

You could almost imagine that the prolific composer of operas is looking longingly past the mythical musician in the direction of the nearby theatre, which was renamed in his honour after his death.

The creator of Donizetti’s monument was the Calabrian, Francesco Ierace, who won a competition for the best design. His plaster model of the monument, along with the other competition entries, is among the exhibits in the Donizetti Museum in Via Arena in the Città Alta (upper town).