Hotel Piemontese Bergamo

Smart hotel in an ideal spot for visitors

The Hotel Piemontese is in a handy location in Piazzale Marconi on the opposite side of the square from Bergamo’s railway station.

Guests can quickly access local buses that leave from outside the railway station or from stops near the top of Viale Papa Giovanni XXIII to go out and about.

The pink facade of the Hotel Piemontese

The hotel is within comfortable walking distance of the shops, bars and restaurants of the Città Bassa (lower town)

The Piemontese has a modern décor and there are 50 rooms served by a lift, all with telephone, satellite television and wifi connection.

A generous buffet breakfast is served each day in the large breakfast room on the lower ground floor and there is an internet point in reception and car parking available for guests.

Transport advice

The hotel is a short bus or taxi ride from Bergamo Caravaggio airport at Orio al Serio.

There are coaches to the lakes and nearby towns from the bus station, which is close to the hotel in Via Bartolomeo Bono. Trains leave frequently to Milan, Brescia, Lecco, Cremona and further afield from the railway station.

To visit the Città Alta (upper town) you can either take the bus to the funicular railway station in Viale Vittorio Emanuele II, from where you will be conveyed up the steep hill by the funicular, or you can take the bus round the 15th century walls that surround the upper town and get off at Colle Aperto, which is next to Porta Sant’Alessandro, one of the city gates.

Editor’s note: ‘It was great to be able to just cross the square to the station in the mornings and board a train to Milan or Cremona and not have far to walk from the station back to the hotel at the end of an enjoyable day out.’

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What to see in Bergamo

Città Bassa

Walk down Viale Papa Giovanni XXIII until you reach Via Sentierone. Turn right to see the 18th century Teatro Donizetti and next to it the monument to the composer Gaetano Donizetti, erected in 1897 in the centenary year of his birth in Bergamo. Opposite is Balzer, a bar founded in 1850 under the portici that has now become a Bergamo institution. 

The Accademia Carrara is one of Italy's finest art galleries

Further along Via Sentierone is the church of San Bartolomeo, which houses a large altarpiece by Renaissance artist Lorenzo Lotto depicting the Virgin Mary and child on a throne surrounded by saints.

Walk down Via Torquato Tasso to Piazzetta Santo Spirito, where the church of Santo Spirito also has a work by Lorenzo Lotto. Turn left into Via Pignolo and walk along until you reach the church of San Bernardino in Pignolo, also home to a Lotto masterpiece. Further along Via Pignolo you can turn right into Via San Tomaso, at the end of which you will find the Pinacoteca di Accademia Carrara, one of Italy’s finest art galleries.

Città Alta

If you ride up to Bergamo’s upper town on the funicular railway and step out into Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe you will feel as though you have travelled back in time.

Walk along narrow Via Gombito, which is thought to have existed during the Roman era. It is lined with shops and bars occupying the ground floors of medieval houses. 

The Cappella Colleoni and (bottom left)
il Battistero in Piazzetta del Duomo

Via Gombito lead to Piazza Vecchia, a beautiful square with a 12th century building, il Palazzo della Ragione (Palace of Reason). Next to it, the big bell tower, il Campanone, dates back to at least the 12th century. Just in front of the Palazzo della Ragione is a statue of Torquato Tasso, one of the greatest Italian Renaissance poets, who was the son of a Bergamo nobleman. 

If you walk through the archways of the Palazzo della Ragione you will find yourself in the Piazzetta del Duomo, where in addition to il Duomo you will see the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Cappella Colleoni, and il Battistero.

In nearby Via Arena is the Palazzo della Misericordia Maggiore, which houses a museum dedicated to the life of composer Gaetano Donizetti, who was born and died in Bergamo.

Another fascinating street leading off Piazza Vecchia is Via Colleoni, which is lined with shops, wine bars and restaurants housed in medieval buildings.

Bergamo food and wine

Sampling melt-in-the-mouth casoncelli alla bergamasca, topped with chopped bacon, sage, butter and grated cheese, is an unforgettable part of a stay in Bergamo.

Casoncelli alla bergamasca is a traditional Bergamo dish

Casoncelli, also sometimes referred to on menus as Casonsei, are a type of ravioli, filled with sausage meat, which has been mixed with several other vital ingredients, including finely chopped pears, sultanas and amaretti.

Casoncelli are believed to have originated in the countryside outside Bergamo, where they were originally created as a way of using up left over meat.

Enjoy your casoncelli with a glass of chilled Valcalepio Bianco, a light, dry white wine with a delicate fragrance, produced in the small valley between Bergamo and Lago d’Iseo. If you prefer red wine, try Valcalepio Rosso, which is dry and soft with an intense scent and goes well with red meat, polenta and local cheeses, such as taleggio.

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