As I mentioned in my last post, we’re vacationing in Italy and it’s been a great time so far. We’ve spent the last three days in Bergamo, a smallish city an hour northeast of Milan. It’s set on three levels, across seven hills: Citta Bassa (Lower Town), Citta Alta (Upper Town), and the top level: San Vigilio hill which is home to the ruins of an 11th century castle with panoramic views. The photo above is a portion of Citta Alta from our hotel room in Citta Bassa. What a gorgeous city!

While you can walk up and down the hills between the levels, most people opt for the funicular network instead. We did, which saved our feet for walking around, plus what a fun ride! This city often gets overwhelmed with tourists in the summer, but we enjoyed small crowds and exploring at a relaxing pace.

The Romans commandeered this area in 49 B.C.E., then later, the Venetians came in during the 1400s and built a tall, thick wall around Citta Alta and San Vigilio hill, including this gate. We’re still not sure if the wall was to keep the local people in or potential invaders out, but I could look at the incredible view from this wall every day and never tire of it.

We enjoyed a walk around most of the wall while exploring Citta Alta and San Vigilio hill and eating Stracciatella gelato which was invented in Bergamo. Many of the hilly streets are made like the photo below, which is hard on your feet and likely very slippery when it’s raining:

We also had an amazing lunch in Citta Alta with the local pasta specialty: Casoncelli alla Bergamaschi. It’s a stuffed pasta that typically contains pancetta, minced beef, Grana Padano cheese, sage, and perhaps eggs and bread crumbs as a binder. The pasta is cooked in butter and more Grana Padano cheese is sprinkled on top. I almost forgot to take a picture, so this is about half of what I was served! We also had a second course, plus fresh bread, water, and a glass of wonderful local wine, all for €15.

We wandered through museums and beautiful churches with ornate interiors like this:

And then climbed up to the bell tower called Campanone in the famous Piazza Vecchio where we could see the whole city. This photo shows the outside of the church shown above:

We’ve also discovered an Italian tradition called “aperitivo,” which is not unlike France’s “apero.” Both are roughly equivalent to the American happy hour, with a drink and maybe something to munch on before dinner. In France, it’s usually nuts or crackers, something light, and then dinner is at about 7:30 or 8pm. Italians eat dinner even later, 8-9pm or so, so the aperitivo is a bit heartier. Given that we like an earlier dinner, it’s my new favorite thing!

We went to a restaurant to get a glass of wine and a slice of homemade focaccia pizza for dinner, and the waiter suggested we order an aperitivo instead. It’s a bit of dealer’s choice as you get what they want to serve you, but it did not disappoint. for €10 each, we had a glass of very good local wine, pizza bites, a tabouleh and vegetable salad, salami and cheese bites, olive bread, sliced deli turkey, and some onion rings and french fries. It was just large enough to be filling after that great Casoncelli pasta lunch.

The weather has been quite decent for March (high 50s and mostly sunny) and is expected to be better in Verona. We took the train today and will share our Verona adventures soon.

Teaser: unbeknownst to us, the Paralympic Games start start tomorrow in Verona. The opening ceremony will be held at Verona’s Roman amphitheater, the Arena di Verona, which is about a block from our hotel. Chaos may be the vibe of this next part of the trip!