Bergamo is two cities stacked on top of each other, and they couldn't be more different. Città Alta — the upper town — sits on a hill encircled by massive Venetian walls, its medieval lanes lined with churches, towers, and palaces. Città Bassa is the working northern Italian city down below: efficient, commercial, and considerably less romantic. Most visitors head straight up the funicular and barely come back down.
The crown of the upper city is Piazza Vecchia, a nearly perfect medieval square framed by the Palazzo della Ragione, the civic library, and Contarini's fountain. Directly behind it, through an archway, is the Piazza del Duomo, home to the extraordinary Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore — a Romanesque church stuffed with Lorenzo Lotto frescoes, carved wooden panels, and a celebrated organ. Next to the basilica, the Cappella Colleoni is one of the great Renaissance mausoleums of northern Italy, its marble facade a riot of colour that most visitors walk straight past.
Bergamo takes genuine pride in Gaetano Donizetti, who was born here in 1797. The Donizetti Museum is small but well-curated, and every autumn the Donizetti Opera Festival fills the Teatro Donizetti on the main boulevard below. The Accademia Carrara, just outside the walls on the lower city side, holds a top-tier collection of northern Italian painting including major Lotto, Raphael, and Titian works.
The Venetian walls themselves — Le Mura — are worth a dedicated walk. Built from 1561 onwards, they're remarkably intact and you can stroll the ramparts for over three kilometres with views stretching out over the Po Valley toward Milan on clear days. At the far end of the upper city, a second funicular carries you up to San Vigilio and the ruins of a medieval castle above the treeline.
Bergamo sits 40 km northeast of Milan and is served by Orio al Serio airport — one of Ryanair's main Italian hubs. The train from Milan Centrale or Milano Porta Garibaldi takes about 50 minutes.