• City of Bergamo, 400 B.C.
• City of Brescia, 7th Century B.C.

 

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. After the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom by Charlemagne, it became the seat of a county under one Auteramus (died 816).

From the 11th century onward Bergamo was an independent commune, taking part in the Lombard League which defeated Frederick I Barbarossa in 1165. Caught in the bitter fights between Guelphs and Ghibellines, led in the city by the Colleoni and the Suardi respectively, from 1264 Bergamo was intermittently under the rule of Milan. In 1331 it gave itself to John of Bohemia, but later the Visconti of Milan reconquered it.

After a short conquest by the Malatesta in 1407, in 1428 it fell under the control of the Venetian Republic, remaining part of it until 1797. Between 1797 and 1815, Bergamo and its territory were included in the political entities born in North Italy during the French and Napoleonic dominion. Notably, the Venetians fortified the higher portion of the town.

In 1815, it was assigned to the Austrian Empire. Giuseppe Garibaldi freed it in 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, when Bergamo became part of the Kingdom of Italy. For its contribution to "Il Risorgimento" the city is also known as "Città dei Mille" ("City of the Thousand"). During the 20th century Bergamo became one of Italy's most industrialized cities. It is also one of the few Italian cities that did not suffer major destruction during World War II.

Bergamo has a prominent place in music history. The large Romanesque church of Santa Maria Maggiore, begun in 1137, had a continuous and well - documented tradition of music teaching and singing for more than eight hundred years. When the town was under Venetian control, the musical style of the Venetians was imported as well; in particular, a large instrumental ensemble grew up to support the choral singing. Composers such as Gasparo Alberti produced music with polyphony using two organs, brass and viols, a style usually associated with Venice, but which flourished in the fine acoustic environment of Santa Maria Maggiore.

The city lent its name to a style of folk dance known as bergamask peculiar to the peoples of that region. Known as bergomasci and renowned for their buffoonery, the fool Bottom in Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night's Dream refers to their Bergomask dance. This unconventional form gave Debussy a vehicle for the dissonances and irregular intervals of his "Suite bergamasque".

Prominent musicians born in Bergamo include Gaetano Donizetti, Pietro Locatelli, Antonio Lolli, Gianluigi Trovesi, Roby Facchinetti, Fabrizio Frigeni and Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Alessandro Grandi, one of the most progressive composers of the early 17th century after Monteverdi, was maestro di cappella there until his death in the plague of 1630; Tarquinio Merula, an even more progressive composer, and one of the founders of the early sonata, took over his post.

Bergamo was the hometown and last resting place of Enrico Rastelli, a highly technical and world famous juggler who lived in the town and, in 1931, died there at the early age of 34. There is a life - size statue to Rastelli within his mausoleum. A number of painters were active in the town as well; among these were Giovanni Paolo Cavagna, Francesco Zucco, and Enea Salmeggia, each of whom painted works for the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Sculptor Giacomo Manzù was born in Bergamo

The town has two centres: "Città alta" (upper city), a hilltop medieval town, surrounded by 17th century cyclopic defensive walls, and the "Città bassa" (lower city). The two parts of the town are connected by funicular/cable car, roads, and foot paths (the most convenient being immediately adjacent to the funicular station). Parking spaces are very limited in the upper city.

The upper city, surrounded by Venetian walls built in the 17th century, forms the historic center of Bergamo. Città Alta is an extremely expensive place to live in, with properties being sold for five to twelve thousand euro per square meter. This has numerous places of interest including:

• Cittadella (Citadel), built by the Visconti in the mid 14th century.
• Piazza Vecchia (old square)
• Palazzo della Ragione. This was the seat of the administration of the city in the age of the communes. Currently it houses a selection of paintings from the Accademia Carrara. Erected in the 12th century, it was rebuilt in the late 16th century by Pietro Isabello. The façade has the lion of St. Mark over a mullioned window, testifying to the long period of Venetian dominance. The atrium has a well - preserved 18th century sundial.
• Palazzo Nuovo (Biblioteca Angelo Mai). It was designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi in the early 17th century but only completed in 1928.
• Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major). It was built from 1137 on the site of a previous religious edifice of the 7th century. Construction continued until the 15th century. Of this first building the external Romanesque structure and the Greek cross plan remain. The interior was extensively modified in the 16th and 17th centuries. The dome has frescoes by Giovanbattista Tiepolo. Noteworthy are the great Crucifix and the tomb of Gaetano Donizetti.
• Cappella Colleoni (Colleoni chapel), annexed to Santa Maria Maggiore, is a masterwork of Renaissance architecture and decorative art. It contains the tomb of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni.
• The Battistero (Baptistry), an elegant octagonal building dating from 1340.
• Bergamo Cathedral (Duomo). This was built in the late 17th century with later modifications.
• Rocca (Castle). It was begun in 1331 on the hill of Sant'Eufemia by William of Castelbarco, vicar of John of Bohemia, and later completed by Azzone Visconti. A wider citadel was added, but is now partly lost. The Venetians built a large tower in the Rocca, as well as a line of walls (Mura Veneziane) 6,200 meters long.
• San Michele al Pozzo Bianco. Built in the 12th century, this church contains a wealth of frescos from the 12th to the 16th centuries, including paintings by Lorenzo Lotto.
• Museo Civico Archeologico (Archaeological Civic Museum) This is housed in the Cittadella.
• Museo di Scienze Naturali Enrico Caffi (Caffi Natural Science Museum) This is also housed in the Cittadella.
• Orto Botanico di Bergamo "Lorenzo Rota" (botanical garden).
• Città Alta and its surroundings are part of the Parco dei Colli di Bergamo

The lower city is the modern center of Bergamo. At the end of the 19th century Città Bassa was composed of Borghi, the residential houses built along the main road that linked Bergamo with the other cities of Lombardy. The main boroughs were Borgo Palazzo along the road to Brescia, Borgo San Leonardo along the road to Milan and Borgo Santa Caterina along the road to Valle Seriana. The city rapidly expanded during the 20th century. In the first decades, the municipality erected major buildings like the new courthouse and various administrative offices in the lower part of Bergamo in order to create a new center of the city. After World War II and during the so called miracolo economico (economic boom) many residential buildings were constructed in the lower part of the city which are now divided into several neighborhoods such as Longuelo, Colognola, Malpensata and Boccaleone, Redona and Valtesse among many others.

Of artistic importance in Città Bassa are:

• Pinacoteca dell'Accademia Carrara (painting museum of Carrara academy)
• Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (gallery of modern and contemporary art), known as GAMEC.

The city is the administrative capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy, with about 1,200,000 inhabitants. The ancient city of Brixia, Brescia has been an important regional center since pre-Roman times and a number of Roman and medieval monuments are preserved, among the latter the prominent castle. The city is at the center of the third largest Italian industrial area, concentrating on mechanical and automotive engineering and machine tools, as well as the Beretta arms firm. Its companies are typically small or medium - sized enterprises, often with family management. The financial sector is also a major employer, and the tourist trade benefits from the proximity of Lake Garda, Lake Iseo and the Alps.

The plan of the old town is rectangular, and the streets intersect at right angles, a peculiarity handed down from Roman times, though the area enclosed by the medieval walls is larger than that of the Roman town, which occupied the north - eastern quarter of the current "Centro storico" (the old town).

The Piazza del Foro (Forum Square) marks the site of the Roman time forum: on the short north side, on the side of the Colle Cidneo (Cidneo Hill) dramatically stands a Corinthian temple with three cellae, which was rediscovered starting in 1823. This temple complex, built on top of an earlier, smaller temple dating from Republican times, was probably the Capitolium of the city; it was erected by Vespasian in 73 AD (if the inscription really belongs to the building). During excavation, in 1826, a splendid bronze statue of a winged Victory was found within the Capitolium, apparently hidden in late antiquity, probably to preserve it from one of the various sackings that the town had to endure in those times.

The Capitolium used to house the Brescia Roman museum but it has been moved to the nearby Santa Giulia (St Julia) complex, a former powerful nunnery, which during Lombard domination was headed by Princess Anselperga, daughter of King Desiderius.

In the area are visible (although not open to the public) various other Roman remains. Among these, on the south side of Forum Square there are scanty remains of a building called the curia but which may have been a basilica.

East of the Capitolium, and in antiquity attached to it, stands the imposing Roman theater. Now only part of it is visible because of a palace built in Renaissance times on the slopes of Cidneo Hill, which in time slid down to cover the entire Capitolium - theater area. It was again used for public performances in the early XX Century but has now long been closed to the public.

Various mythological versions of the foundation of Brescia exist: one assigns it to Hercules while another attributes its foundation as Altilia ("the other Ilium") by a fugitive from the siege of Troy. According to a further myth, the founder was the king of the Ligures, Cidnus, who had invaded the Padan Plain in the late Bronze Age; this myth has given its name to the hill where the medieval castle now stands, Colle Cidneo (Cidnus's Hill). Scholars attribute the foundation to the Etruscans.

Invaded by the Gallic Cenomani, allies of the Insubres, in the 4th century BC, it became their capital. The city became Roman in 225 BC, when the Cenomani submitted to the Romans. During the Carthaginian Wars 'Brixia' (as it was called then) was usually allied with the Romans. In 202 BC it was part of a Celtic confederation against them, but, after a secret agreement, changed sides and attacked the Insubres by surprise, destroying them. Subsequently the city and the tribe entered the Roman world peacefully as faithful allies, maintaining a certain administrative freedom. In 89 BC, Brixia was recognized as civitas ("city") and in 41 BC its inhabitants received Roman citizenship. Augustus founded a civil (not military) colony there in 27 BC, and he and Tiberius constructed an aqueduct to supply it. Roman Brixia had at least three temples, an aqueduct, a theater, a forum with another temple built under Vespasianus, and some baths.

When Constantine advanced against Maxentius in 312, an engagement took place at Brixia in which the enemy was forced to retreat as far as Verona. In 402, the city was ravaged by the Visigoths of Alaric I. During the invasion of the Huns under Attila, the city was again besieged and sacked in 452 while, some forty years later, it was one of the first conquests of the Gothic general Theoderic the Great in his war against Odoacer.

In 568 (or 569) Brescia was taken from the Byzantines by the Lombards, who made it the capital of one of their semi - independent duchies. The first duke was Alachis, who died in 573. Later dukes included the future kings Rotharis and Rodoald, and Alachis II, a fervent anti - Catholic who was killed in the batte of Cornate d'Adda (688). The last king of the Lombards, Desiderius, had also been duke of Brescia. In 774, Charlemagne captured the city and ended the existence of the Lombard kingdom in northern Italy. Notingus was the first (prince-) bishop (in 844) who bore the title of count. From 855 to 875, under Louis II the Younger, Brescia become de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Later the power of the bishop as imperial representative was gradually opposed by the local citizens and nobles, Brescia becoming a free commune around the early 12th century. Subsequently it expanded into the nearby countryside, first at the expense of the local landholders, and later against the neighboring communes, notably Bergamo and Cremona. Brescia defeated the latter two times at Pontoglio, then at the Grumore (mid 12th century) and in the battle of the Malamorte (Bad Death) (1192).

During the struggles in XII and XIII centuries between the Lombard cities and the German emperors, Brescia was implicated in some of the leagues and in all of the uprisings against them. In the Battle of Legnano the contingent from Brescia was the second in size after that of Milan. The Peace of Constance (1183) that ended the war with Frederick Barbarossa confirmed officially the free status of the comune. In 1201 the podestà Rambertino Buvalelli made peace and established a league with Cremona, Bergamo, and Mantua. Memorable also is the siege laid to Brescia by the Emperor Frederick II in 1238 on account of the part taken by this city in the battle of Cortenova (27 November 1237). Brescia came through this assault victorious. After the fall of the Hohenstaufen, republican institutions declined at Brescia as in the other free cities and the leadership was contested between powerful families, chief among them the Maggi and the Brusati, the latter of the (pro-imperial, anti-papal) Ghibelline party. In 1258 it fell into the hands of Ezzelino da Romano.

In 1311 Emperor Henry VII laid siege to Brescia for six months, losing three - fourths of his army. Later the Scaliger of Verona, aided by the exiled Ghibellines, sought to place Brescia under subjection. The citizens of Brescia then had recourse to John of Luxemburg, but Mastino II della Scala expelled the governor appointed by him. His mastery was soon contested by the Visconti of Milan, but not even their rule was undisputed, as Pandolfo III Malatesta in 1406 took possession of the city. However, in 1416 he bartered it to Filippo Maria Visconti duke of Milan, who in 1426 sold it to the Venetians. The Milanese nobles forced Filippo to resume hostilities against the Venetians, and thus to attempt the recovery of Brescia, but he was defeated in the battle of Maclodio (1427), near Brescia, by general Carmagnola, commander of the Venetian mercenary army. In 1439 Brescia was once more besieged by Francesco Sforza, captain of the Venetians, who defeated Niccolò Piccinino, Filippo's condottiero. Thenceforward Brescia and the province were a Venetian possession, with the exception of the years between 1512 and 1520, when it was occupied by the French armies under Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours.

Brescia has had a major role in the history of the violin. Many archive documents testify that from 1585 to 1895 Brescia was the cradle of a magnificent school of string players and makers, all styled "maestro", of all the different kinds of stringed instruments of the Renaissance: viola da gamba (viols), violone, lyra, lyrone, violetta and viola da brazzo. So you can find "maestro delle viole" or "maestro delle lire" and later, at least from 1558, "maestro di far violini", that is master of violin making. From 1530 the word violin appeared in Brescian documents and spread throughout north of Italy.

Early in the 16th century Brescia was one of the wealthiest cities of Lombardy, but it never recovered from its sack by the French in 1512.

It subsequently shared the fortunes of the Venetian republic until the latter fell at the hands of French general Napoleon Bonaparte; in Napoleonic times, it was part of the various revolutionary republics and then of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy after Napoleon became Emperor of the French.

In 1769, the city was devastated when the Bastion of San Nazaro was struck by lightning. The resulting fire ignited 90,000 kg of gunpowder stored there, causing a massive explosion which destroyed one - sixth of the city and killed 3,000 people.

After the end of the Napoleonic era in 1815, Brescia was annexed to the Austrian puppet state known as the Kingdom of Lombardy - Venetia. Brescia revolted in 1848; then again in March 1849, when the Piedmontese army invaded Austrian controlled Lombardy, the people in Brescia overthrew the hated local Austrian administration, and the Austrian military contingent, led by general Haynau, retreated to the Castle. When the larger military operations turned against the Piedmontese, that retreated, Brescia was left to its own resources, but managed to resist recapture by the Austrian army for ten days of bloody and obstinate street fighting that are now celebrated as the Ten Days of Brescia. This prompted poet Giosuè Carducci to nickname Brescia "Leonessa d'Italia" ("Italian Lioness"), since it was the only Lombard town to rally to King Charles Albert of Piedmont in that year.

In 1859, the citizens of Brescia voted overwhelmingly in favor of its inclusion in the newly founded Kingdom of Italy.

The city was awarded a Gold Medal for its resistance against Fascism in World War II.

On May 28, 1974, it was the seat of the bloody Piazza della Loggia bombing.

• Piazza della Loggia, a noteworthy example of Renaissance piazza, with the eponymous loggia (the current Town Hall) built in 1492 by the architect Filippino de' Grassi. On May 28, 1974, the square was the location of a terrorist bombing.
• Duomo Vecchio ("Old Cathedral"), also known as La Rotonda. It is an externally rusticated Romanesque church, striking for its circular shape. The main structure was built in the 11th century on the ruins of an earlier basilica. Near the entrance is the pink Veronese marble sarcophagus of Berardo Maggi, while in the presbytery is the entrance to the crypt of San Filastrio. The structure houses paintings of the Assumption, the Evangelists Luke and Mark, the Feast of the Paschal Lamb, and Eli and the Angel by Alessandro Bonvicino (known as il Moretto); two canvasses by Girolamo Romanino, and paintings by Palma il Giovane, Francesco Maffei, Bonvicino, and others.
• Duomo Nuovo ("New Cathedral"). Construction on the new cathedral began in 1604 and continued till 1825. While initially a contract was awarded to Palladio, economic shortfalls awarded the project, still completed in a Palladian style, to the young Brescian architect Giovanni Battista Lantana, with decorative projects directed mainly by Pietro Maria Bagnadore. The façade is designed mainly by Giovanni Battista and Antonio Marchetti, while the cupola was designed by Luigi Cagnola. Interior frescoes including the Marriage, Visitation, and Birth of the Virgin, as well as the Sacrifice of Isaac, were frescoed by Bonvicino. The main attraction is the Arch of Sts. Apollonius and Filastrius (1510).
• The Broletto, the medieval Town Hall, which now hosts offices of both the Municipality and the Province. It is a massive 12th and 13th century building; on the front, the balcony where the medieval city officials spoke to the townsfolk from; on the north side, still standing one of the two original city towers (Lombard: Tòr del Pégol), with a belfry still hosting the bells used of old to call all hands in moments of distress.
• In Piazza del Foro, as mentioned above, the most important array of Roman remains in Lombardy.
• The monastery of San Salvatore (or Santa Giulia), dating from the Lombard age but later renovated several times. It is one of the best examples of High Middle Ages architecture in northern Italy; it now hosts the City Museum, with a rich Roman section; one of the masterpieces is the bronze statue of a winged Victory, originally probably a Venus, converted in antiquity into the Victory by adding the wings; it is said to be in the act of writing the winner's name on her shield (now lost). Also very interesting, one of the very few places in the world where the remains of three Roman domus can be visited on their original site simply by strolling into one of the Museum halls. In 2011, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a group of seven inscribed as Longobards in Italy. Places of the power (568 - 774 A.D.).
• Santa Maria dei Miracoli (1488 – 1523), with a fine façade by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, decorated with bas reliefs and a Renaissance peristilium.
• The Romanesque - Gothic church of St. Francis of Assisi, with a Gothic façade and cloisters.
• The castle, at the north - east angle of the town, on top of Colle Cidneo. Besides commanding a fine view of the city and a large part of the surrounding area, and being a local favorite recreational area, it hosts the Arms Museum, with a fine collection of weapons from the Middle Ages onward; the Risorgimento Museum, dedicated to the Italian independence wars of the XIX century; an exhibition of model railroads; and an astronomical observatory.
• Church of Santi Nazaro e Celso, with the Averoldi Polyptych by Titian.
• Church of San Clemente, with numerous painting by Alessandro Bonvicino (generally known as Moretto).
• Church of San Giovanni, with a refectory painted partly by Moretto and partly by Girolamo Romanino.
• Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, the municipal art gallery; it hosts works of the painters of the classical Brescian school, Romanino, Bonvicino, and Bonvicino's pupil, Giovanni Battista Moroni.
• Biblioteca Queriniana, containing rare early manuscripts, including a 14th century manuscript of Dante, and some rare incunabula.

The city has no fewer than seventy - two public fountains. The stone quarries of Rezzato, 8 km east of Brescia, supplied marble for the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome.

Brescia was the starting and end point of the historical car race Mille Miglia that took place annually in May until 1957 on a Brescia - Rome - Brescia itinerary, and also the now defunct Coppa Florio, one of the first ever sport motor races. The Mille Miglia tradition is now kept alive by the "Historic Mille Miglia", a world class event that gathers in Brescia every year thousands of fans of motor sports and of vintage sports cars. The only cars admitted to the race are the ones that could have competed in (although they do not necessarily have to have taken part in) the original Mille Miglia. The race nowadays is not however a speed race anymore, but rather a "regularity" race; speed races have actually been banned on regular roads in Italy because of the deadly accident that killed a driver and ten bystanders in the last minutes of the 1957 Mille Miglia - that therefore became the last of the original races.