Bergamo (inhabited place)
Name
Bergamo (inhabited place)
Province/County/State
Bergamo (province)
Nations
Italy (nation)
Descriptive Note Text
Located in southern foothills of the Alps; sacked by Attila the Hun in the 5th century; rebuilt and became seat of Lombard duchy 1296; passed to Venice 1428-1797, to Austria in 1815, and part of Italian kingdom 1859; site of Romanesque Cathedral begun in 1137 and Cappella Colleoni (1470-1476). The city today (population ca. 125,000) is divided into two parts: upper Bergamo (città alta) and lower Bergamo (città bassa), the modern city; the upper part crowns a steep hill and retains its circuit of 16th-century walls.