Le Mura, the majestic walls seen around the upper town today, were built by the Venetians starting in 1561.

The principle big door is Porta Sant'Agostino built in 1575 and is the entrance to Città Alta at the top of Viale Vittorio Emanuele.

There is an awesome walk along the top of "Le Mura" including parks and a view for kilometers of the lower town and the plains below.

As well as being a great fort to explore, La Rocca has a park and naturally a commanding view in three directions. From the top is a great overview of Città Alta and the lower town.

After you get off the funicular in the Upper Town in Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe, follow the signs and the narrow street called Via Rocca, up to La Rocca. It has a great museum and an old Roman road with grooves worn into it outside on the right.

From Piazza Vecchia the covered arched porch of the Palazzo della Ragione extends south. It is full of interesting historical facts and monuments. To the right near the Caffe' del Tasso is a statue of the famous poet, Torquato Tasso, up on a column.

In the past there was an open court here and the condemned people were made to sit on a stone chair to be exposed to the public. Now the area is used for famous puppet shows with well-known characters such as Harlequin who originated in this province. Now the porch is the scene for filming, dancing, political and cultural events as well as wedding ceremonies and picture taking.

Going off to the right of the center of the lower town, while looking at the upper town from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele is the huge walking street called Il Sentierone. People walk up and down the sidewalk of this street to practice a very famous Latin custom. See your friends, have something at the sidewalk cafe and socialize.

The most famous fountain is Fontana Contarini in Piazza Vecchia and the second most is Fontana San Pancrazio in Via Gombito in front of the San Pancrazio Church and Albergo Agnello d'Oro.

A beautiful old area is the Lavatoio (public wash basins) in Via Mario Lupo. There are still many more fountains, wash basins and water cisterns in the Old Town.

The mountains near Bergamo are spectacular in all seasons especially with snow in the winter and hiking in the summer. Go to Brembana or Seriana Valleys for skiing, hiking, kayaking, festivals, history, culture, geology, antique shows, typical food and drinks and much more.

Behind Piazza Vecchia (or south) is the beautiful church of Santa Maria Maggiore built on the place of a smaller church from around 774 A.D. Building began in 1137 projected to be almost in the form of an elongated Greek cross. The roof is covered with stone ardesia shingles just like the houses way up in the local mountains. The sides are covered in red, white and black marble.

The portal has all kinds of figures of heads, animals and warriors from the Lombard League that alternate with decorative geometric elements. Above the arc is a statue of Saint Alessandro on horse and Saints Barnaba and Vincenzo. Above this is a statue of the Madonna with saints. Two dark red marble lions hold up columns at the entrance.

As you enter on the right there are frescos of The Last Supper and the story of St. Eligio and a tapestry with Moses and many other fine tapestries, paintings and decorations. The Confessional of Andrea Fantoni is incredibly carved out of wood. There are four wood incised panoramas with an infinite number of colors and grains of wood at the front of the church but they are kept covered under a wood covering to protect them yet they can still be seen by tipping the custodian. A famous organ is also at the front and can be heard during concerts in the church.

Going back out on the right toward piazza dell'Ateneo there are some medieval iron metal bars in the walls which were used to measure textiles and material in the times of the open markets when there were no units of measure.

The Botanical Gardens have over 900 species in 1357 square meters, with lots of them in micro-habitats that reproduce or evoke natural environments. There are trees, swamp or lake plants, arid zone plants, Mediterranean, Alpine and exotic plants and plants useful to man. This is a very pretty place to visit and nice to walk it.

The best thing about Italy is the idea of the town square. It's a central focusing point where you can go to see people, have an ice cream, an aperitif or dinner and sometimes even take in a puppet show or medieval dancing.

The best square to experience is in Città Alta with the Contarini Fountain from 1780 in the center, the Civic Library and the Palazzo della Ragione from the 1400s.

The Bell Tower rings 100 times at 10 o'clock at night, a custom that remains from the medieval times to warn the farmers to come in before the walled-city doors are closed for safety at night.

Go shopping for Italian goods or meet up with people along Via XX Settembre. Start from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele and go west down this street full of all kinds of shops.