We recently took a short trip to northern Italy to meet up with my American cousins John and Claudia, and their children, who were visiting Claudia’s family near Bergamo. We took the opportunity to also visit the nearby cities of Brescia and Ferrara on our own.
This post is in two parts: Part 1 (Bergamo and Brescia) and Part 2 (Ferrara)
Bergamo
Accademia Carrara
When we visited Bergamo last year, the Accademia Carrara, the city’s premier art museum, was closed for extensive renovations, in connection with Bergamo becoming one of Italy’s Capitals of Culture for 2023 (more on the Capital of Culture Program later). So on this trip we made sure to visit the Carrara first thing
The Carrara was founded in 1796 by local citizen Federico Carrara, who donated his personal collection to form the nucleus of the new museum. The museum has an outstanding collection of northern Italian art – from Tuscany to Venice, with a focus on those artists who lived and worked in Lombardy.
Here is a selection of some of our favorites.
This work is by the Florentine artist Benozzo Gozzoli, who was famous for his depiction of fabrics. As we learned from a special exhibit on Gozzoli last year, the artist’s father was a tailor – perhaps that is why he devoted such attention to Mary’s cloak.
Similarly, Ascolano artist Carlo Crivelli is notable for his depiction of hands with long, elegant fingers.
There were outstanding examples by Venetian artists Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini, who were brothers-in-law and were often influenced by each other’s work. Note how the use of the soldier’s legs in the foreground of the Mantegna, and the positioning of the Baby Jesus’ knee in the Bellini, highlight the illusion of three-dimensionality in both works.
Many artists of the time did portraits of the Holy Family. By the middle of the 16th Century, though, the figures look less like devotional images, and more like an actual family group. In the work by Lorenzo Lotto, the figures are still set up in positions of prayer, but the faces are more human. In the work by Giovanni Savoldo, the figures are likewise arrayed in a traditional pattern, but the depiction of the infant Jesus is remarkably realistic.
I was pleased to find a painting by Sofonisba Anguissola in the museum. Sofonisba was a painter from Cremona who worked for many years in Spain at the court of Phillip II – one of the few female artists to achieve prominence in the 16th Century. In her treatment of the Holy Family, she has eliminated the religious gestures entirely – they are just a family sitting down for a bit under a tree. The background in the painting is particularly interesting – is that a storm approaching?
The museum has a number of works by Lorenzo Lotto, a particular favorite of ours. Lotto was a Venetian artist who worked all over central and northern Italy. (There are a fair number of his works in the Marche, which is how we became familiar with him.)
Lotto is particularly known for his portraits, which often have a psychological dimension. Lotto’s contemporary, Raphael, created portraits of surpassing sweetness. But Lotto attempted to convey the personality of his subjects as well as their likenesses – even if, as in this case, the subject looks rather silly and vain.
The museum had several works by Giovan Battista Moroni, who was born near Bergamo and spent most of his working life there. Moroni was also known for his portraits. The portrait of the child is particularly interesting – how did Moroni get the little girl to sit still? Or did he just sketch really fast and fill in the details from memory?
One of the pleasures of travelling around Italy is that you often learn about high quality artists who are not as well known – often because the artist’s best work is in less frequently visited destinations. The surprising find in this case was a special exhibit devoted to the work of Francesco Boneri, known as Cecco di Caravaggio, a young student of and, many believe, lover of Caravaggio.
One of Boneri’s best known works depicts Christ chasing out the merchants from the Temple of Jerusalem, a traditional religious subject. I was more drawn the depiction of the Flutist, sitting in front of a table of seemingly randomly chosen objects – almost as if the musician had wandered into some other artist’s still life.
Some art historians believe that Cecco was the model for the figure of David in his depiction of David holding the head of Goliath. Here is a self-portrait by Cecco, next to the Caravaggio original. What do you think? Is Caravaggio’s beardless youth the same as the delicately featured Cecco? (I say yes.)
That evening, we met our American cousins for dinner at a local restaurant.
Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
On our second day in Bergamo, we visited the Città Alta (high city), which can be accessed by funicular. (There is also a bus, but the funicular is more fun.)
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo was begun in the 12th Century, and the exterior retains the original Lombard Romanesque design. Much of the interior, however, was redone in the Baroque style in 17th Century, as you can see from the extensive decoration.
Santa Maria Maggiore is particularly famous for its intarsi (wood paintings), which were produced between 1524 and 1530. In these works, Lorenzo Lotto did the original drawings, and another artist, Giovan Francesco Capoferri, executed the drawings in wood, using different types of wood to convey different shades of color. There are 36 images primarily depicting Old Testament scenes. The effects are quite dramatic.
Judith and Holofernes
David and Goliath
The Sacrifice of Melchisedek and the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Another artistic treasure of the Cathedral is a 17th C tapestry depicting the Crucifixion, recently cleaned and restored to its original brilliant colors.
Next to the Duomo, there is the Cappella Colleoni, which was built in the 15th Century.
The Lion of Venice on the old city hall reminds us that Bergamo was part of the Venetian empire for most of the 15th Century – pretty impressive, since the city is far closer to Milan than Venice.
After touring the Città Alta, we took a second funicular up to San Virgilio, where we enjoyed a pizza lunch with a magnificent view.
Before going to dinner with Claudia’s extended family that evening, we stopped in at the local Harley Davidson dealership. My cousin is the proud owner of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and he wanted to pick up some Harley Davidson Bergamo souvenirs for his home club.
I was amused to find that some of the motorcycles cost more than our car.
It was great fun to see our American cousins in Italy. John and Claudia are learning Italian and love it here. Who knows – maybe they will retire here too!
Brescia
Brescia, along with Bergamo, is Italy’s Capital of Culture for 2023.
Under a program which began in 2015, each year Italy selects a city that will be designated the Capital of Culture for a year. The aim is to promote tourism to less frequently visited parts of the country. Usually the designation is made a year in advance, and comes with some government cash to do renovations and civic improvements.
Generally, only a single city is designated, and the city remains Capital of Culture for only a single year. The Covid pandemic played havoc with these rules – Parma, which had been designated Capital of Culture for 2020, got an extra year to make up for the fact that international tourism basically didn’t exist for a year.
In early 2022, Bergamo and Brescia submitted an unprecedented joint bid to be Capitals of Culture for 2023. The cities have been historic rivals, and the joint bid was somewhat surprising. Both cities had been hit especially hard by the Covid pandemic, however, and the mayors of the two cities wanted to make a gesture of hope, pride and renewal. The Italian Parliament agreed with the sentiment, and approved the joint designation.
The two cities are only about 50 km (30 miles) apart, and these days journey between them takes less than an hour by frequent train service. (You can also drive, but traffic is often heavy in this part of Italy.)
Brescia is known for a series of Roman ruins, most located in a small archeological park located in the center of the historic city. The ruins include remnants of the original Forum and a theater, as well as a temple built in the 1st C under the reign of the Emperor Vespasian.
After Christianity became the Roman Empire’s dominant religion, many temples to the old gods fell into disuse. The one in Brescia was heavily damaged by fire and was eventually covered over by later building. It was not rediscovered until 1826.
The small exhibit includes some interesting frescoes and mosaic floor pavements.
The 19th C excavations also unearthed an astonishing statue of Winged Victory, one of the few full size Roman bronzes that have come down to us. The statue of the goddess conveys a remarkable sense of vitality, including the bent knees suggesting she is about to spring forward. The energy and sense of motion in this statue would not be seen again in European art until the Baroque era, some 1500 years later.
The unusual position of the goddess’ arms suggest that she was originally holding a placard, on which the name of a local general and some glorious victory were once inscribed. The placard is gone now, and both the name of the general and his victorious battle are lost to history. The magnificent statue, however, remains. Art does endure.
The nearby museum of Santa Giulia had more Roman artifacts.
The Desiderius Cross is a fascinating artifact from the 8th Century, a period from which not much art remains. The unknown artist seems to have repurposed small paintings and cameos from the Roman imperial period to decorate the cross.
The Santa Giulia museum complex also includes the former church of Santa Maria in Solario, whih was built in the 12th Century and frescoed at the beginning of the 16th Century by Floriano Ferramola.
Brescia has two cathedrals right next to each other — the Duomo Vecchio, which was begun in the 12th Century and completed in the14th, and the Duomo Nuovo, which was built in the the 17th Century. This is unusual – it was far more common for a city to expand or renovate the existing church when they wanted a new one – or even build right on top of the old one. Here, we have two separate churches side by side.
The Duomo Vecchio has an unusual round structure – one of the oldest examples of a Romanesque “rotunda” church still extant.
We also saw a small art exhibit in Brescia featuring, once again, the work of Lorenzo Lotto. Unfortunately, since most of the works on exhibit were from private collections, no photography was allowed.
I have included a photo of the exhibit poster, featuring a Nativity scene by Lotto, because of the small squirrel you can see to the right of Baby Jesus When animals appear in Renaissance religious paintings, they usually have a theological significance – the ox and the donkey which often appear in Nativity scenes, for example, symbolize the Gentile and Pagan communities of the ancient world that will ultimately heed Christ’s message. But this little squirrel – a native Italian variety, now almost extinct – seems to have been included only because Lotto liked painting squirrels. I’m glad he did.
Speaking of animal portraits, I have no idea how this guy got here.
Part 2 of this post continues our journey in Ferrara.
Linda's Trip Tips 