Up and Down Bergamo6 May 2010
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Going Up?
Top of San Vigilio-Bergamo
Views over San Viglio
| Thursday 6th May 2010 Weather:-Overcast/Sunshine-15 degrees Bergamo No rain this morning gave us the opportunity to shoot up even higher than the Citta Alta (369 metre above sea level) to San Vigilio (459 metre above sea level) it is reachable by the second funicular of Bergamo (the first one runs between Citta Bassa and Citta Alta). San Vigilio is a small hilltop settlement which offers several pleasant and panoramic strolls. The main attraction of San Vigilio is the Castello, a grassy ruined fortress with superb views to the mountains and back down over Citta Alta. A ride back down on the funicular was needed to get us to the town square (Piazza Vecchia) of Bergamo's 'Citta Alta' as that is where all the main attractions are and our first visit was to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore which was begun in the 12th century. It's a lovely building, and more interesting (if you dare to compare) than the neighbouring Duomo (cathedral) but I found them both spectacular and Herman and I are both always amazed at the richness and the magnificence of art that is found in all these religious places. The interior of the church, with its octagonal dome, saw many modifications over the centuries, including the 16th century addition of rich Flemish tapestries. However, traces still remain of the original medieval frescoes, including parts of a 'tree of life' celebrating the life of Christ. There were more good views to be had from the 12th-century tower 'Torre Civica' also in Piazza Vecchia, the tower is also known as the 'Campanone' or 'big bell' but in order to get to the top we first had to climb up a 52 metre high set of old stone steps and by now you will have realized that we are mad enough to do those things. While catching our breath on the climb you notice how thick the walls of the tower are—at most places nearly 2 metres thick and when you get to the top you finally get an almost eye to eye view of the gilded figure of S. Alessandro on its' Dome. Another attraction of being on top of the bell tower is that on the hour and half hour it chimes out a signal to all around what the time is and there are always a few crazy tourist who want to experience that at close range---I do not need to tell you where we two were at 11am today, do I? Well we had been up so now it was time to go down—we then walked the 85 metres down to the base of the hill along an old set of stairs that would have been a very busy thoroughfare when the funicular was not the main mode of transport between the Upper and Lower city. The pathway led us through luscious greenery but when we got to the bottom we walked straight to the funicular and rode it to the higher ground again. We had enquired from fellow tourist what the lower city was like and we had been told "just another modern city" and so the purpose of our journey had been reached and that was just to walk the steps and postpone another afternoon 'tea'—mission accomplished so we headed back to the Piazza Vecchia just in time to see another mad lot of 'Alpini' arrive in an old VW-- converted with a lounge hanging from the boot (excuse me-engine) and a forty? litre wine flask set into the bonnet—blaring out music as they were driving up the main street (4 metres wide). Last night we encountered a truck load of them arriving, also accompanied by music of the time of their service days but we are wondering about the age of these service men as at least halve of them are under forty—obviously this reunion is not restricted to men who have seen war, but I am starting to understand the sentiment of the young couple who had driven us so effortlessly to our B&B a couple of nights ago and that plainly was that they were not looking forward to this 'Alpini" invasion. |
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