The President’s Scholars Program
Honors 2004 Summer Study Abroad
Bergamo, Italy

A Burnett Honors College/University of Bergamo cooperative program.

The City of Bergamo

Bergamo is the capital of Bergamo provincia in Lombardy region in northern Italy. It is situated in the southern foothills of the Alps between the Brembo and Serio rivers.

Bergamo was born on the hill. On the hill, the Celts, Goths, Romans and Longobards have alternated their presence, but of this long ago occupancy, little has remained; some of the main monuments go back to medieval times.

Originally the settlement was the centre of the Orobi tribe. It became a Roman town (called Bergomum) in 196 B.C. After the Barbarian invasions, after destruction by Attila the Hun, the city was rebuilt and was later the seat of a Lombard duchy and became an independent commune in the 12th century. It was ruled by the Milanese Visconti family after 1329. In 1428, the city passed to Venice. Four centuries in which Bergamo was ruled by Venice, and during which a very tight historic and cultural relationship bound the two cities, is the most significant period in the history of the city. In this period the town, surrounded by walls, underwent considerable economic expansion. In 1797, the French took control and included it in the Cisalpine Republic (established by Napoleon). In 1815 it became part of Lombard-Venetia (Austrian kingdom) until freed by Garibaldi's soldiers in 1859 when it became part of the Italian kingdom.

Bergamo has always been a city of great industrial and commercial importance. Nowadays the city is an industrial centre with textile mills, engineering works, and cement, mechanical, and electrical manufactures. (Taken from http://www.eurotravelling.net/italy/bergamo/bergamo_history.htm)