Visit Bergamo’s Civic Archaeology Museum

Civico Museo Archeologico di Bergamo

The museum is housed in a 14th century
palace in Piazza della Cittadella

You can travel in the footsteps of the Celts, Romans and Longobards who built Bergamo by visiting the Civic Archaeology Museum to see the wealth of artefacts that have been uncovered over the centuries in the city and the surrounding area.

Items dating back to the Neolithic period in prehistoric times reveal Bergamo’s ancient origins. Stone axes, iron swords, Celtic bronze ornaments and Longobard gold crosses are among the items on display in the museum. Bergamo’s Roman period is particularly well represented with a wealth of sculptures, inscriptions, tomb stones and funerary items.

The Civic Archaeology Museum is now housed in a 14th century palace in Piazza della Cittadella in the Città Alta, but its collection dates back as far as 1561, when Bergamo’s Great Council established ‘a collection of antiquities’ for people to view in the loggia under Palazzo della Ragione in Piazza Vecchia in the Città Alta.

The original display of artefacts has increased hugely over the centuries thanks to the many valuable items that have been unearthed locally and donated to the collection and the museum has had to move to many different locations in the city as it kept requiring more space.

The museum has collections of artefacts from
many periods of history unearthed locally

A special publication registering the most notable archaeological discoveries in the care of the museum was published in 1900 by Professor Gaetano Mantovani. All the important finds were gathered together in the 1930s and given a home in the Rocca fortress, where they were kept safe during World War II.

The collection was moved in 1960 to its present location, where it now occupies the ground floor of a palace built in the 14th century by the Visconti family. Milan’s ancient rulers, in Piazza Cittadella.

There are rooms displaying prehistoric, bronze age, Iron age, gallic and Longobard items. There is plenty of evidence from the Roman period in Bergamo, with an important collection of funerary epigraphs from the area. There are rooms devoted to the city’s history from the early urban settlement of the fifth century BC to the Roman city becoming a municipium in the age of Caesar- Augustus. Artefacts from the Longobard duchy in the early Middle Ages include fascinating examples of the pieces of armour worn by soldiers at the time.

The museum is open between October and December from 9.00 to 13.00 and 14.00 to 17.00 Thursday and Friday and from 10.00 to 13.00 and 14.00 to 17.30 on Saturday and Sunday.

The entrance ticket is three euros and the ticket is also valid for entry to the Natural Science Museum, also in Piazza della Cittadella. 

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Enrico Caffi Natural Sciences Museum

Bergamo takes pride in museum’s amazing collection

Bergamo is well known for its art treasures and musical heritage but perhaps not widely recognised as a centre for science.

The Museo Civico Scienze Naturali Enrico
Caffi is in Piazza Cittadella

However, in the historic upper town, the Città Alta, there is a prestigious natural history museum with thousands of fascinating artefacts for visitors to see.

The Museo Civico Scienze Naturali Enrico Caffi (The Civic Museum of Natural Sciences Enrico Caffi) is in Piazza Cittadella, a square close to Colle Aperto and Porta Sant’Alessandro.

A reproduction of a huge mammoth greets customers in the entrance hall. Inside the museum, exhibits are divided into the categories of zoology, entomology, geology and palaeontology.

There are examples of all five classes of vertebrates, along with a collection of anthropods.

The museum’s origins date back to the end of the 19th century when exhibitions were held during public holidays of the artefacts from the Royal Technical Institute Vittorio Emanuele II.

Dottore Enrico Caffi was the
museum's first director

In 1918, the museum moved to Piazza Vecchia in the Città Alta and in 1920, Dottore Enrico Caffi was appointed as the first director of the museum and organised the cataloguing of all items in the museum’s collection. Caffi was an expert on the Parco delle Orobie outside Bergamo and devoted his time to studying the flora and fauna. He left a large quantity of manuscripts with scientific articles about his findings and maps of the territory.

Under successive professors the museum was expanded and studies were made of Lago Endine and the Brembo and Serio rivers.

In 1969, the museum moved to its present headquarters in Piazza Cittadella. Four years later, a fossil of the oldest known flying creature was found in Seriana valley. The creature, who lived more than two million years ago, was described for the very first time by Rocco Zambelli, who was responsible for the paleontology section of the museum.

The museum now has laboratories for educational purposes and a sensory path with Braille captions for blind visitors.

In normal times the Natural Sciences Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, but it has temporarily closed due to Covid 19. Visit www.museoscienzebergamo.it for more information.

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Accademia Carrara reopens in Bergamo

Caravaggio masterpiece will remain on display

The Accademia Carrara reopened its doors to visitors
from today, 22 May, following the lockdown.

A welcome sign that things are getting back to normal in Bergamo is the reopening of the Accademia Carrara.

The prestigious art gallery, which lies just outside the Città Alta, finally opened its doors to visitors again today, following the Covid-19 outbreak.

You can book your access to the museum on line at prenotazioni@lacararra.it or by ringing +39 328 1721727.

A pleasant surprise for art enthusiasts will be that Caravaggio’s famous painting of The Musicians, which was on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York before the Carrara had to close, will remain at the gallery until the end of the summer.

The Metropolitan Museum’s offer to extend the loan of the painting to Bergamo has been described by the Carrara as an ‘extraordinary act of generosity’ and a demonstration of the solidarity that unites Bergamo and New York, ‘two cities that are being sorely tested by the current health crisis.

’

Baroque artist Caravaggio painted the three young men playing musical instruments, with a fourth dressed as Cupid, while he was still a young man. He was living in the household of his patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte. One member of the group is thought to be a self portrait of the artist.

Caravaggio, whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi, 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.

Caravaggio's painting, The Musicians, painted in about
1595, is on loan at the Carrara from The Met in New York

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.

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

Bergamo airport at Orio al Serio changed its name to the Caravaggio International Airport Bergamo - Orio al Serio in 2011.

The Accademia Carrara is one of the biggest jewels in Bergamo’s crown. The art gallery is housed in a magnificent palace, built in the 18th century to house one of the richest private collections of art in Italy.

It is the only Italian museum to be entirely stocked with donations and bequests from private collectors. Visitors can view a broad-ranging collection of works by the masters of the Venetian, Lombard and Tuscan renaissances as well as great artists who came later.

The Carrara was established in 1794 as a combined Pinacoteca and School of Painting on the initiative of Bergamo aristocrat Count Giacomo Carrara. In addition to his collection of paintings he left his entire estate to the Accademia to secure its future.

The number and quality of the works in the Accademia has increased over the years thanks to donations and bequests from private collectors.

Accademia Carrara is in Piazza Giacomo Carrara, a short walk from Porta Sant’Agostino. For more information about the new opening hours visit www.lacarrara.it.

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Accademia Carrara Bergamo

See highlights of collection inside this magnificent palace

English-speaking visitors and students are being offered a unique opportunity to explore Bergamo’s prestigious Accademia Carrara, accompanied by an expert guide speaking in their own language.

Saturday Morning Visits at the premiere art galley in Bergamo will reveal the highlights in the collection from now until October this year (2019).

Tours start from the ticket office in the lobby of the gallery at 11 am each Saturday. The cost is six euros in addition to the normal ticket price and booking is not necessary.

Accademia Carrara is housed in 18th century palace

This is an opportunity to find out more about Pisanello. Mantegna, Bellini, Botticelli, Raffaele, Lotto and Moroni, to name just a few of the great artists whose works are in the Carrara’s collection.

The English-speaking guides promise to show visitors the art treasures ‘at the heart of the museum’s collection’ during a 90-minute taster tour. 

One of the biggest jewels in Bergamo’s crown, the prestigious art gallery Accademia Carrara is housed in a magnificent palace just outside the Città Alta, built in the 18th century to house one of the richest private collections of art in Italy.

It is the only Italian museum to be entirely stocked with donations and bequests from private collectors. Visitors can now view a broad-ranging collection of works by the masters of the Venetian, Lombard and Tuscan renaissances as well as great artists who came later.

The Accademia Carrara was established in 1794 as a combined Pinacoteca and School of Painting on the initiative of Bergamo aristocrat Count Giacomo Carrara. In addition to his collection of paintings he left his entire estate to the Accademia to secure its future.

The number and quality of the works in the Accademia has increased over the years thanks to the many donations and bequests from private collectors.

From being a museum dedicated to Renaissance painting, the Accademia has grown into an art gallery that also provides a broad representation of pictorial genres from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Accademia Carrara is in Piazza Giacomo Carrara, a short walk from Porta Sant’Agostino. For more information visit www.lacarrara.it.

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Accademia Carrara

Palace filled with art treasures is a major attraction in Bergamo

One of the biggest jewels in Bergamo’s crown, the prestigious art gallery Accademia Carrara, is shining even more brightly now it is open to the public again.

The magnificent palace just outside the Città Alta, which was built in the 18th century to house one of the richest private collections of art in Italy, had been closed for renovation work for seven years.

It is the only Italian museum to be entirely stocked with donations and bequests from private collectors. Visitors can now view a broad-ranging collection of works by the masters of the Venetian, Lombard and Tuscan renaissances as well as great artists who came later, such as Lotto, Titian, Moroni, Rubens, Tiepolo, Guardi and Canaletto, to name but a few.

Restored Accademia the day it reopened

The reopening of the Accademia Carrara in April this year sparked great celebrations in Bergamo, after the museum had been closed for so long for restoration and maintenance work.

Following a spectacular opening ceremony and party the museum opened its doors to the public for the first time on 24 April. Thousands of people were waiting outside in Piazza Giacomo Carrara to get their first look inside the refurbished building.

Visitors can now walk through 28 rooms to view more than 600 major works by artists and sculptors spanning five centuries.

Highlights include: Madonna and Child by Andrea Mantegna; Portrait of Leonello d’Este by Pisanello; Three Crucifixes by Vincenzo Foppa; Madonna and Child by Giovanni Bellini; The Story of Virginia the Roman by Sandro Botticelli; The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine by Lorenzo Lotto; Madonna and Child in a Landscape by Tiziano Vecellio; Madonna with Baby and Saints by Palma il Vecchio; Portrait of an Elderly Man seated by Giovan Battista Moroni; The Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi by Antonio Canal Canaletto.

A Canaletto masterpiece

The Accademia Carrara was established in Bergamo in 1794 on the initiative of Bergamo 

aristocrat Count Giacomo Carrara as a combined Pinacoteca and School 

of Painting.  In addition to his collection of paintings he left his entire estate to the Accademia to secure its future.

The number and quality of works in the Accademia increased over the years thanks to the many donations and bequests received from private collectors.

From being a museum dedicated to Renaissance painting, the Accademia grew into an art gallery that also provided a broad representation of pictorial genres from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

For part of the time the gallery was closed, the gems of the collection went on show in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. And visitors to Bergamo were able to see some of the paintings on display in the Truss Room of Palazzo della Ragione in Piazza Vecchia.

Painting depicts the death of Bergamo composer Donizetti

But now one of the richest collections of art in Italy is back where it belongs, in the Palace built specially to house it, in Bergamo’s Città Bassa.

Accademia Carrara in Piazza Giacomo Carrara is just outside the walls of the Città Alta, a short walk from Porta Sant’Agostino.

Accademia Carrara is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 am to 7 pm; Friday from 10 am to 12 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm. It is closed on Tuesday. For more information visit www.lacarrara.it.

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Casa Natale di Gaetano Donizetti

Birthplace is now a national monument

It is both humbling and inspiring to visit the birthplace of Bergamo composer Gaetano Donizetti, just outside the walls of the Città Alta (upper town).

Donizetti was born into a large family living in the basement of a house in Borgo Canale on 29 November 1797, a date that was to be of major significance for music and opera.

Entrance to Donizetti's birthplace

The Casa Natale (birthplace), which has now been declared a national monument, is open to visitors free of charge every weekend and it is well worth a visit to see the conditions in which the musical genius spent his early years.

You can still see the well from which the family drew their water and the fireplace where meals were cooked, which would have also been their only source of heating.

Music from Donizetti’s operas echoes around the basement while you study the exhibition that commemorates his life and career, helping you to reflect on the amazing journey he made from his place of birth to being acclaimed in theatres all over the world when he was at the height of his success.

The child born 217 years ago today in these humble surroundings went on to become a prolific composer of operas in the early part of the 19th century and was a major influence on Verdi, Puccini and many other Italian composers who came after him.

To reach Donizetti’s birthplace, leave the Città Alta through Porta Sant’Alessandro and go past the station for the San Vigilio funicolare. Borgo Canale is the next street on the right and the Casa Natale, at number 14, in the middle of a row of characteristic, tall houses, is marked by a plaque.

The family's only source of water

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…”

Donizetti developed a love for music and despite the poverty of his family benefited from early tuition at a special music school that had been set up in Bergamo to train choirboys.

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 as a sick man and died in 1843 in the Palazzo Scotti, where he was living at the time with friends. The street in the Città Alta where the palazzo is situated was later renamed Via Donizetti in his honour.

There is also a museum dedicated to his life and career in the Città Alta, within the former Palazzo Misericordia Maggiore, which is still being used to house a musical institute, in Via Arena. 

Donizetti’s tomb is in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Piazza Duomo in the Città Alta.

Fireplace where the family would gather round

A monument dedicated to him was erected in the Città Bassa in Bergamo in 1897, 100 years after his birth.

It is close to the theatre on the corner of Via Sentierone that was renamed Teatro Donizetti in honour of the composer.

Casa Natale is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 10.00 to 13.00 and 15.00 to 18.00. From Monday to Friday, visits to the house are by appointment only.

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Enjoy musical memories in tranquil Via Arena in Bergamo

Quiet Via Arena in Bergamo

One of the most beautiful and characteristic streets in the Città Alta (upper town) is the peaceful Via Arena.

The narrow cobbled street lined with old houses with ornate portals and fresco decorated walls runs from Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore up to the west end of the Città Alta and the Seminario Vescovile. It can be accessed by leaving the church of Santa Maria Maggiore at the south entrance.

On the left side is the high wall encircling the Santa Grata convent with an ornate church entrance. Opposite is the Palazzo della Misericordia Maggiore, which houses a musical institute and the Donizetti museum.

The palazzo, at Number 9 Via Arena, was originally built in the 15th century but was extended and refurbished in the 17th century to become the largest baroque building in Bergamo .

The museum dedicated to Gaetano Donizetti has a unique and fascinating collection of furniture, paintings, books and musical scores.

Donizetti, who was born and died in Bergamo, composed about 70 highly regarded operas in 30 years, making him one of the leading composers of opera in the early part of the 19th century and a major influence on Verdi, Puccini and other Italian composers who came after him.

Donizetti museum entrance in Via Arena

Visitors are able to see Donizetti’s furniture, including the bed he died in and the chair he used to sit in towards the end of his life when he was living in Palazzo Scotti in Bergamo ’s Città Alta as the guest of a wealthy family. There are also the composer’s piano, portraits, original scores from his operas and his letters on view in display cases as well as a library of books and documents.

To add to the atmosphere as you look round the museum, you will hear occasional snatches of music played by students using the practice rooms of the musical institute, which is also housed in the palace.

The origins of the musical institute go back to the charitable lessons in music provided for orphans early in the 19th century by Simone Mayr, music master at Santa Maria Maggiore, under who Donizetti himself at one time studied

The Donizetti Museum in Via Arena is open from Tuesday to Friday from 9.30 to 13.00 and on Saturday and Sunday from 9.30 to 13.00 and from 14.00 to 17.30. Closed Mondays.

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Bergamo museum dedicated to Donizetti

The beautiful Palazzo della Misericordia Maggiore in Via Arena in Bergamo’s Città Alta houses a unique and fascinating museum.

The palace at No 9 is home to the collection of furniture, paintings, books and musical scores brought together to commemorate the life of composer Gaetano Donizetti, who was born and died in Bergamo.

The building dates back to the 13th century but was remodelled in the 17th century.

Via Arena is off the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore and climbs towards the west end of the Città Alta. It can be accessed after leaving the church at the south entrance.

The museum is dedicated to the life and works of Donizetti, who composed about 70 well-regarded operas in 30 years, making him one of the leading composers of opera in the early part of the 19th century.

Visitors are able to see Donizetti’s furniture, including the bed (below) he died in and the chair (above right) he used to sit in towards the end of his life when he was living in Palazzo Scotti in Città Alta as the guest of a wealthy family. The composer’s piano, portraits, original scores from his operas and letters are also on view in display cases.

The palace has a very decorative interior which is worth looking at for its own sake, but there are also plenty of items in the collection which will be of interest to music lovers.

To add to the atmosphere as you look round the museum, you hear occasional snatches of music played by students using the practice rooms of the musical institute, which is also housed in the palace.

The Donizetti Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday. For opening times check with the Ufficio di Informazione Turistiche (Tourism Information Office) in Via Gombito.

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Bergamo birthplace of beautiful music

A famous son of Bergamo is Gaetano Donizetti, a prolific composer of operas in the early part of the 19th century, who is believed to have been a major influence on Verdi, Puccini and other Italian composers who followed him.

You can visit the place where Donizetti was born in Borgo Canale, in the middle of a row of characteristic, tall houses, just outside the walls of the Città Alta (upper town.) Leave the city through the Porta S. Alessandra and go past the San Vigilio funicolare to reach the street.

Donizetti was the fifth of six children born to a textile worker and his wife on 29 November 1797 .

Donizetti himself 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…”

From his humble beginnings he developed a love for music and went on to compose some of the most lyrical operas of all time, such as Lucia di Lammermoor and L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love), which are still regularly performed today.

Perhaps his most famous aria, from L’Elisir d’Amore, is Una Furtiva Lagrima (A secret tear.) This was a favourite of the late, great Luciano Pavarotti and is regularly performed and recorded on the CDs of other tenors.

One of the most beautiful versions I have heard recently is by Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon, who has become well-known to television viewers through his appearances on ITV’s Popstar to Opera Star. He includes it on his albums, Viva Villazon and Rolando Villazon Tenor.

After a magnificent career, Donizetti returned to Bergamo and died in 1843 in the baroque Palazzo Scotti, where he was living as a guest, in the street now named Via Donizetti in the Città Alta.

There is a museum dedicated to his life and career in the former Palazzo Misericordia Maggiore in Via Arena. His tomb is in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Piazza Duomo.

There is also a monument dedicated to him near the Teatro Donizetti in the Città Bassa (lower town.)


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