Torre dei Caduti di Bergamo

Torre dei Caduti di Bergamo (Tower of the Fallen of Bergamo) is a tower in Bergamo, located in Piazza Vittorio Veneto, in the modern part of the city, Città Bassa.

SHORT HISTORY

After the Napoleonic occupation, the lower part of the city acquired a growing economic importance, primarily for the greater availability of building spaces.

The choice of the area in which the tower was built was part of a larger urban reorganization project of the lower part of Bergamo, which became in the last centuries the true political and administrative center of the city.

The tower, 45 meters high, was designed by the architect Marcello Piacentini. It was built starting from 1922, in an area known as Prato di Sant’Alessandro, which at the time hosted the annual Sant’Alessandro Fair, one of the most important and oldest in Lombardy, dating back to the 9th century.

The tower is one of the most emblematic monuments of Città Bassa, built in the wake of the patriotic rhetoric following the First World War, not only in memory and honor of the fallen of Bergamo, but to enhance and consolidate unitary nationalism, as explicitly stated in the inauguration speech of Benito Mussolini on October 27, 1924.

ARCHITECTURE

The tower was built in sandstone of Bagnatica, covered with ashlars, and decorated by ornamental and commemorative inserts such as the clock and some sculptural groups.

The Zandobbio marble clock is enclosed in a square whose corners are represented by four allegories of the blowing winds, symbolizing the passing of time.

Under the clock, there is a niche from which the bronze statue of Italy emerges, holding the Victory in the right hand and a sword in the left hand. The statue is the work of the sculptor Alfredo Faino.

The statue rests on a large dedicatory plaque, immediately above a polychrome marble window, forming a statuary complex of great visual effect.

In the lunette of the large window, two cherubs hold the Bergamo coat of arms, while the two bas-reliefs of Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel and General Armando Diaz dominate the scene.

The window is preceded by a balustraded balcony that rests on the allegories of weapons, while below a large plaque shows the bulletin of the victory of General Diaz.

The interior of the tower, which is spread over five floors, displays on the walls of the lower floors the names of the fallen engraved in gold on black marble, and on the upper floors the panels illustrating the development of the city.

HOW TO GET THERE

Torre dei Caduti di Bergamo is located about 750 meters away from the Bergamo railway station. The closest bus stop is located on Viale Roma 4, about 80 meters away, on the bus Line 1.