By Ines Keane
Ask how long the wall is and you get three answers. About six kilometres, says the national tourism board. About 6,200 metres, says Wikipedia’s Italian article. About 4.5 kilometres, says a travel guide’s FAQ. Bergamo, in Lombardy, is a city in two halves, and the wall belongs to the upper one.
Two towns, one stop apart
Italia.it, the national tourism board’s site, describes the older part, Città Alta, as sitting on a hill and rich in medieval remains, and the lower city as a modern part that grew with industry. A funicular links them. According to Italia.it it has run for more than 120 years, was first designed by the engineer Alessandro Ferretti in 1887, had a rail added and its machinery and stations renovated in 1917, and covers 240 metres with a height difference of 85 metres. Villages Italy, an editorial travel site that says it may draw on Wikipedia, says only that the trip takes a few minutes.
The wall
Italia.it says the Republic of Venice began the walls in 1561 and that more than 250 buildings were demolished to make way, eight of them religious. Wikipedia’s Italian article gives the same start, adds that the work was finished in 1588, and says the walls reach about 50 metres high in places, with dry moats below. It counts 14 bastions, which Villages Italy also gives. It also lists 100 gun openings and two gunpowder magazines, and says 32 sentry boxes were built and only one survives. It says that about 250 civil buildings were lost, but notes that its own text names seven churches and a convent, so the “eight” is not itemised there.
Four gates are named by Italia.it and by Wikipedia: Sant’Agostino to the east, San Giacomo to the south, Sant’Alessandro to the west and San Lorenzo to the north. Wikipedia adds that San Lorenzo was renamed Porta Garibaldi and that San Giacomo is open to pedestrians only. Villages Italy names just two main gates, San Giacomo and Sant’Agostino. It also says the walls were never seriously tested in battle.
Recognition and upkeep
UNESCO inscribed the walls in 2017 as part of a serial property, “Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries”. UNESCO says the property has six components across Italy, Croatia and Montenegro, three of them in Italy, along a route of more than 1,000 kilometres. Wikipedia gives the date as 9 July 2017. It says the walls were restored and cleaned between 1976 and 1984, a range Italia.it repeats, and that a volunteer group, Orobicambiente, has looked after them since 2005. It also says the Sant’Agostino gate became a museum on 20 September 2024.
A clock at ten
In Piazza Vecchia, according to Italia.it, the civic tower called the Campanone rings 100 chimes at ten every night, a custom tied to the old closing of the gates. The same page says the Accademia Carrara was founded in 1795 by Count Giacomo Carrara and holds more than 1,500 artworks from the 14th to the 19th century. Villages Italy gives 1796 for the foundation.
Winter and the table
The tourism office’s own site lists a “Winter outdoor” heading and an events section, and the dates change each year. For food, the same site names casoncelli and polenta as typical local dishes.
Dates in order
- 49 BC: the Roman municipium of Bergomum, according to Villages Italy.
- 1428: Venice takes control, according to Villages Italy.
- 1561: work begins on the walls, according to Italia.it and Wikipedia.
- 1588: the walls are finished, according to Wikipedia.
- 1887: the funicular is first designed, according to Italia.it.
- 2017: UNESCO inscription, according to UNESCO.
Side by side
The sources split on the length of the walls (about six kilometres, 6,200 metres or 4.5 kilometres), on the number of main gates (four or two), on the year the Accademia Carrara was founded (1795 or 1796) and on how the demolished religious buildings are counted. Our reading: the length depends on whether a writer measures the full circuit, the walkable top or a part of it. That is our inference and none of the sources says it.
What kind of sources these are
UNESCO’s listing; the national tourism board; Wikipedia’s Italian article; Villages Italy, an editorial travel site; and the city’s tourism website. We read no museum page, so we give no hours, tickets or fares.
What we left out
We left out costs of building the walls, the names of the engineers, whose attributions the Wikipedia text itself calls poorly documented, population figures, which the travel site gives two ways, transport, and religious interiors.
Quick answers
When did UNESCO list the Bergamo walls? According to UNESCO, the Venetian defence works were inscribed in 2017 as a serial property; Italia.it and Wikipedia place Bergamo’s walls in that listing.
How many gates do the walls have? Four, according to Italia.it and Wikipedia: Sant’Agostino, San Giacomo, Sant’Alessandro and San Lorenzo.
How long is the funicular? According to Italia.it, 240 metres, with a height difference of 85 metres.
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Roam first. Shop later.