A Union of Passions

From Bergamo Alta to Franciacorta, with Lake Iseo in between. This region represents a union of vastly different passions: those for artistic masterpieces, natural wonders and, last but not least, sparkling wine!

Bergamo, Città Alta, represents a unique patrimony of art and timeless beauty. To this day it preserves the layout of its ancient roads and the medieval and renaissance atmosphere evoked by Piazza Vecchia and Piazza del Duomo. Palazzo della Ragione and Santa Maria Maggiore take us back in time to the communal era of the Middle Ages, while the extraordinary Colleoni Chapel, built to house the mausoleum of the Condottiero and his daughter, represents a quintessential expression of renaissance elegance. Palazzo del Podestà in Piazza Vecchia, built in the 14th century and frescoed by Bramante in 1477, is a symbol of Venetian power over Bergamo. The remains of these precious frescos can today be seen in the Sala delle Capriate in Palazzo della Ragione.
Enormously evocative is the walk around the walls of the city, during which one comes across the 16th century Porta Sant’Agostino, topped by the Lion of Venice, and the Porta Sant’Alessandro, near which was located the citadel commissioned by Visconti in the 14th Century.

Thanks to the most viral installation in the history of art (the Floating Piers by Christo), Lake Iseo’s world fame has grown exponentially. Just half an hour from Bergamo, it boasts at least two villages of enormous artistic and natural value in the area of Alto Sebino: Lovere, among the most beautiful towns in Italy with its rich art gallery, and Pisogne with its picturesque lakeside waterfront.
Over the course of decades, the mild and sunny climate, fertile terrain, and vast countryside have turned this lakeside region into the perfect place to plant thousands of grape vines and to build numerous wineries producing the most well-loved sparkling wines in Italy, named after Franciacorta itself. The movement of glaciers shaped its geography thousands of years ago, creating a combination of depressions and hills that are similar to those in Tuscany, and creating a rural landscape that is uniquely fascinating.