Tag: Pietro Isabello in Bergamo

Palazzo Roncalli is a palace in Bergamo, located in Piazza Lorenzo Mascheroni, in the upper part of the city, known as Città Alta.   SHORT HISTORY The Roncalli family settled in Bergamo in the 14th century, in a building near the Church of Sant’Andrea. The palace was built starting with 1520 adjacent to the Visconti walls erected by the Milanese in 1300 to surround the citadel. The project was entrusted to Andrea di Giacomo Ziliolo, while Pietro Isabello and Francesco Cleri took care of the construction. The palace underwent various modifications over time. In the 18th century, it was bought by the Sonzogno family, who modified it on a project by Ferdinando Caccia and Giovanni Francesco Lucchini. In the apartment located on the noble floor of Palazzo Roncalli, during the night of March 13, 1797, was signed the agreement for the withdrawal of Venice from Bergamo. The palace was renovated in the 20th century by Sandro Angelini.   ARCHITECTURE The palace has an irregular polygonal plan, with three floors plus a mezzanine, with a multi-pitched roof, and an internal courtyard. The facade overlooking Via Mascheroni is symmetrical. On the ground floor, there are six openings, two round and four rectangular. Read more [...]

Palazzo della Ragione is a palace in Bergamo, located in the upper part of the city, Città Alta. The palace stands across the Piazza Vecchia from the Palazzo Nuovo, bordering also the Piazza del Duomo to the north.   SHORT HISTORY The palace was built at the end of the 12th century, more precisely between 1183 and 1198, making it the oldest town hall in Italy. The building maintained its role as a political center even after the end of the communal era, when, with the arrival of the Republic of Venice in the first half of the 15th century, it was used as the palace of justice, hence the name della Ragione (of reason). The palace, which was already in a bad shape at the beginning of the 16th century, suffered serious damage in 1513, after a fire. Its reconstruction began in 1538 under the direction of the architect Pietro Isabello, and was completed in 1554. The works on the exterior were started in March 1539, and the Lion of St. Mark was placed on the facade in April of the same year. Subsequently, the southern wall was restored. The rebuilding of the loggia on the ground floor began Read more [...]

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is a beautiful church in Bergamo, located in the historical part of the city – Città Alta, in the small Piazza del Duomo.   SHORT HISTORY According to popular tradition, in 1133, the local people promised to built a church dedicated to the Madonna, if the city will be spared by the plague that threatened the northern Italy. The church was built in 1137 on the site of another church from the 8th century, which in turn was built on a pagan temple dedicated to the goddess Clementia. The exterior of the church testifies its construction in two different phases: in the first phase, were built the apsidal area, the northern arm of the transept and the lower part of the southern arm in gray sandstone, with square ashlars, while the remaining parts were built in the second phase, in light ocher sandstone, with rather small ashlars. With the central apse and the transept built, the high altar was consecrated in 1185, and the presbytery and apses on the east side of the transept were completed in 1187. Work slowed down during the 13th century due to economic difficulties. However, the blind facade and the Read more [...]