Lombardy itinerary
Bergamo Alta
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore - Bergamo Alta (Upper Town )

Situated in the heart of the upper town, Basilica di S. Maria Maggiore is considered the  most important monument of the town.

The collocation itself, in the center of the built-up area, underlines the importance of this building. Piazza Duomo ( Dome Square ) has been for a long time, until the building of the close Piazza Vecchia ( Old Square ), the fulcrum of the civil and religious life of the town. The Duomo, the Basilica and the Palazzo della Ragione (the ancient municipality building) face on it.

Built in XII, as a vow to the Virgin, the basilica conserved at the outside the original Romanic structure. The ground plan is in shape of a Greek cross, but the interior, modified in ‘500 and in ‘600, is sumptuous.

Many artists worked for its realization: from Lombardy, Venice, Tuscany and foreign artists. There are two entrances to the basilica decorated with precious porches of polychrome marbles by Giovanni da Campione (1353-60). The interior is rich of very valuable works.

The inlays of the wooden choir  and the marquetries of the iconostasis that represent biblical stories, were executed between the 1524 and the 1555 on the drawings of Lorenzo Lotto, by the Master G.F. Capoferri and G. Belli: the different chromatic types are due to the different kind of wood, while the color shades and the deepness of the image are obtained with herbs infusions and the use of hot sand.

In the transept there are frescoes of the fourteen century by an unknown author from the Lombardy school (Storie di S.Egidio – “S.Egidio histories”, l’Ultima cena, “Last supper”, L’Albero di S.Bonaventura, “Saint Bonaventura’s tree”). The great Crucifix that hangs on the balustrade of the presbytery is a work by an unknown artist as well. Beautiful Florentine and Flemish tapestries decorate the walls of the basilica. At the end of the nave, there are the monuments of the famous compositor Gaetano Donizetti and of his Master Simone Mayr. In the left aisle, the precious baroque confessional by Andrea Fantoni (1704 – 1705) presents an apology of the confession.

BERGAMO ALTA: S. MARIA MAGGIORE: Information

Piazza Duomo - Sacristy tel. 035/22.33.27. Free entrance
Opening times: from 1/11 to 31/3 from Monday to Friday: 9a.m-12.30a.m; 2:30p.m – 5p.m. Saturday: 9a.m-12.30a.m and 2.30p.m-6p.m Sunday and Public Holidays 9.00a.m-12.45a.m and 3p.m – 6.pm
from 1 April to 31 October: 9a.m.-12.30a.m. and 2.30a.m-6p.m everyday.
SS. Mass: working days: 10a.m. Public Holidays: 11.00a.m e 12.00a.m.(Visits aren’t allowed during the celebrations)
After the mass of the 7.30a.m the basilica is closed till 9p.m.
How to reach the upper town:
from Piazzale Marconi (Train/Coach/Bus Station) and from Porta Nuova
by bus 1 + funicolar or bus 1A to Colle Aperto
by car: V.le Papa Giovanni XXIII - V.le V. Emanuele - Porta S. Agostino - Viale delle mura.

- Bergamo tourist guides associations:
Gruppo Guide Citta' di Bergamo, A.G.I.A.T Guide Villaggio Crespi

Text and Photos © courtesy of Provincia di Bergamo – Settore cultura, sport e turismo

Bergamo Alta:
Piazza Vecchia | La Cappella Colleoni | Le mura venete
Bergamo accommodations | Getting in and around

© 1997-2010 Enrico Massetti
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