Bergamo Citta Alta

Bergamo is the day trip that surprises people. Many visitors know it only as the name of the airport where budget flights land, but above the modern lower town rises Citta Alta, the upper town, one of the best-preserved historic hill towns in northern Italy. It sits on a ridge ringed by massive Venetian walls, built in the sixteenth century when Bergamo was the westernmost outpost of the Republic of Venice, and the walls, about six kilometres long, are part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing of Venetian defence works. Inside, there are no big roads, just cobbled lanes, palaces, churches and squares. The heart of it is Piazza Vecchia, one of the loveliest squares in Italy, with the arcaded Palazzo della Ragione, the Contarini Fountain and the Campanone, the civic bell tower, which by an old tradition still rings a hundred times every evening at ten, the hour when the city gates once closed. Through the arcades behind lies the Piazza Duomo, with three remarkable buildings side by side: the cathedral; the Romanesque basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, plain outside but filled inside with gilded stucco, Flemish tapestries and inlaid wooden panels designed by Lorenzo Lotto, and the tomb of the composer Gaetano Donizetti, born in Bergamo; and the Colleoni Chapel, the extravagant multicoloured marble mausoleum of the mercenary captain Bartolomeo Colleoni. The upper town is also a place to eat: look for casoncelli, the local filled pasta with butter and sage, polenta in every form, and the cheeses of the Bergamo valleys.

Getting there: direct trains from Milano Centrale and other Milan stations reach Bergamo in about an hour. From the station, walk or take the bus up the long avenue to the lower station of the funicular, which has climbed to the upper town for more than a century; the ride takes a couple of minutes and lands you a few steps from Piazza Vecchia. Bus line 1 also runs all the way from the station to the upper town, and fit walkers can climb the old stone stairways. A second funicular climbs further, from the upper town to San Vigilio, the highest hill, for the best views over the walls and plain. Bergamo also makes a convenient first or last stop if you are flying from Orio al Serio airport, which is close to the city.

A day in Citta Alta: ride the funicular up in the morning and start at Piazza Vecchia, then visit Santa Maria Maggiore and the Colleoni Chapel before the tour groups arrive. Climb the Campanone for the view if it is open, wander along Via Gombito and Via Colleoni for lunch, then take the funicular to San Vigilio. In the afternoon, walk along the Venetian walls, a tree-lined promenade with views across the plain to the Apennines on clear days and towards the Alps to the north; the stretch at sunset is the highlight. Back in the lower town, the Accademia Carrara holds an excellent collection of Italian painting, including Raphael, Botticelli, Bellini and Lotto, if you have time and energy.

Why go: Bergamo offers what Milan does not, a compact medieval and Renaissance town on a hilltop that feels unhurried even in high season. It is much less crowded than Lake Como, it is excellent value, and it works in every season, including late autumn and winter, when the lake villas are closed. Combine it with Lake Como on a longer stay, or with a night in the upper town for the quiet evenings and the sound of the Campanone ringing out over the walls.