Bergamo (Italian: [ˈbɛrɡamo] ; Bergamasque: Bèrghem [ˈbɛrɡɛm] ) is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Milan, and about 30 km (19 mi) from the alpine lakes Como and Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Garda and Maggiore. The Bergamo Alps (Alpi Orobie) begin immediately north of the city.
With a population of around 120,000, Bergamo is the fourth-largest city in Lombardy. Bergamo is the seat of the province of Bergamo, which counts over 1,103,000 residents (2020). The metropolitan area of Bergamo extends beyond the administrative city limits, spanning over a densely urbanized area with slightly less than 500,000 inhabitants.[3] The Bergamo metropolitan area is itself part of the broader Milan metropolitan area, home to over 8 million people.[4][5][6]
The city of Bergamo is composed of an old walled core, known as Città Alta ('Upper Town'), nestled within a system of hills, and the modern expansion in the plains below. The upper town is encircled by massive Venetian defensive systems that are a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 9 July 2017.[7]
Bergamo is well connected to several cities in Italy, thanks to the motorway A4 stretching on the axis between Milan, Verona, and Venice. The city is served by Il Caravaggio International Airport, the third-busiest airport in Italy with 12.3 million passengers in 2017. Bergamo is the second most visited city in Lombardy after Milan.[8][9]
In classical Latin, the toponym is attested as Bergomum, while in late Latin Bergame. The toponym in the local Bergamasque dialect of the Lombard language is instead Bèrghem. There are various hypotheses put forward to trace the origin of the name of the city.[10]
Local historian and politician Bortolo Belotti compared the toponym to previous Celtic and pre-Celtic names, of which Bergomum would then only be the Latinisation; the word berg in Celtic means a protection, fortification or abode. In the writings of early Roman period, the toponym Bergomum appears to be associated with Bergimus, the Celtic god of mountains or dwellings.[11]
Historian Antonio Tiraboschi argued instead that the toponym stemmed from the Proto-Germanic language. The Bergamo toponym is similar to toponyms in various Germanic-speaking areas, and might be associated with *berg +*heim, or the "mountain home".[12] The hypothesis of a Germanic derivation clashes however with the absence of documents regarding Germanic settlements in the area prior to the settlement of the Lombards who settled in the northern part of the Italian peninsula after the collapse of the Roman Empire.[13]
Bergomum (as it was known in classical Latin) was first settled by the Ligurian tribe of the Orobii, during the Iron Age period.[14] During the Celtic invasion of northern Italy, around the year of 550 BC, the city was conquered by the Celtic tribe of Cenomani.[15]
In 49 BCE, it became a Roman municipality, containing c. 10,000 inhabitants at its peak.[16] An important hub on the military road between Friuli and Raetia, it was destroyed by Attila in the 5th century.
From the 6th century, Bergamo was the seat of one of the most important Lombard duchies of northern Italy, together with Brescia, Trento, and Cividale del Friuli: its first Lombard duke was Wallaris.[citation needed]
After the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom by Charlemagne, it became the seat of a county under one Auteramus (died 816). An important Lombardic hoard dating from the 6th to 7th centuries was found in the vicinity of the city in the 19th century and is now in the British Museum.[17]
From the 11th century onwards, Bergamo was an independent commune, taking part in the Lombard League which defeated Frederick I Barbarossa in 1165. T