Hotel in Bergamo

We really enjoyed Bergamo a few years ago. We stayed at Casa Maria Lupo and really enjoyed it. Breakfast downstairs in the owners' home.

I made a photo album on Flickr of some of the photos I took that will give you an idea of some of the things to see and do:
Bergamo 2013

I stayed at ilsolebergamo.com, a budget-friendly place right on the corner of the main square. They close completely (hotel and restaurant!) one day per week.

The town is full of polenta with cheese or stewed meats, which is right up my alley. I'll just mention a couple of restaurants:

• donizetti.it was well-reviewed and I had a good lunch of polenta with cheese and proscuitto, plus a large platter of three varieties of sliced lardo - enough for about 4 people but a good place to try it if you haven't yet.

• colleonidellangelo.com is a fancy place on the square with some affordable three course lunch options. It's also a member of the Buon Ricordo restaurant association, which means that you get a souvenir plate included if you order their one signature entrée (of polenta).

• Near the funicular, polentone.com has "pioneered" take-out polenta; I didn't try it but it looked like a good, quick option.

Moving Cathy's response to the duplicate post:

Posted by Kathy
United States
07/17/16 01:19 PM

2769 posts

Hi -

What constitutes 'reasonable' and 'cool' to you? One person's definition of either may not be your own. We've stayed at a nice, reasonable (for us) hotel with spacious rooms in Città Bassa when we wanted to be a short walk to the train station and close to the majority of a group we were spending a few days hanging out with. But you might want to be up in old Città Alta...which is probably what we'll do next time under different circumstances.

(Thank you, Laura!)

Restaurants: I just have to throw this one out as it was one of the most FUN we had on the last trip.

Il Circolino: http://www.ilcircolinocittaalta.it/#_=_
The website is in Italian but just use an online translator.

It's in Città Alta, a bit interesting to find, and you'll want to choose a warm evening so you can be outside on the HUGE (!!!) vine-covered terrace. It is not at all fancy, the food is inexpensive and good, and it was packed with locals. It's a cooperative near the University so a fave with college students (and anyone else on a budget) for those reasonable prices. We saw everyone from young people to seniors to family gatherings to, well, you name it. Very lively and altogether delightful.

Here's another vote for the Circolino Co-op. Some photos I took there: Bergamo Co-op

Last year we stayed at the outstanding Hotel Petronilla in the lower old section. This place is really upscale and the staff is extremely friendly and helpful. The sofa in our room was shaped like a baseball glove and the bathroom was very elegant.

For gelato we can highly recommend the La Romana on Via Gerolamo Tiraboschi 42...very, very good...really good and polular.

La Citta Alta is a great place to wander. We took a cab up there and walked back to the hotel after exploring.

Buon viaggio,

Remember you can use Google Maps Streetview to take a look for yourself at the areas around particular hotels. We really enjoyed staying in the upper town, partly because it's more picturesque than the lower town.