Situation
The provincial capital of Bergamo lies northeast of Milan at the foot of the Bergamo Alps. It consists of an old town of narrow winding streets on a hill, defended by bastions erected in the 16th century, and a lower town extending out on
to the Po plain with modern buildings and busy industries (textiles, cement, printing).
History
Originally a Gallic settlement and recorded in 200 B.C. as the Roman Municipium Bergomum, the town achieved no great importance until the Lombard period. In 1167 it became a member of the Lombard league of towns; then in 1264 it passed under the control of Milan and from 1427 it belonged to Venice. From 1814 Bergamo was controlled by Austria until it was liberated by Garibaldi in 1859. In the 16th century the theater form known as the "commedia dell'arte" came to the fore in Bergamo.
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