Housed in a beautiful blue building dating back to the 14th century, this exquisite centre for temporary art exhibitions and cultural activities contains masterpieces from the 14th century until today. There is also a pleasant small cafeteria in the backyard.

The Royal Palace was built, as commanded by the House of Medici, in the late 16th century, and became the National Museum in 1989. Today, it hosts numerous paintings, sculpture, tapestries and decorative art pieces that belong to the courts of the city government, such as the Medici, Lorena and Savoia, as well as some private collections. The building still has the appearance of an aristocratic residence, with fittings and furniture from the 17th to 19th centuries.

Piazza Vecchia represents the core of Città Alta: it has been the heart of political power for centuries and it keeps being one of the most popular places for Bergamo’s citizens to spend some time with friends. Beauty is all around you if you have a seat at one of the square’s restaurants or cafes, having a drink, breakfast or even a romantic dinner. You can admire the building called “Palazzo della Ragione”, the oldest municipal seat in Lombardy, as well as the Torre Civica, a bell tower also called “Campanone”. In the middle of the square is located the Contarini Fountain, which was donated to the city by the chief magistrate Alvise Contarini in 1780, while on the opposite side of Piazza Vecchia you can see the Palazzo Nuovo (“New Palace”), which served as Bergamo’s Town Hall until 1873 and is today the seat of the Angelo Mai Library. The geometrical layout of the buildings around the square is so harmonic that when Le Corbusier visited Bergamo he said “you can’t move a single stone, it would be a crime”