Bergamo - Battistero

Bergamo was the settlement of a Celtic tribe but got conquered by the Romans in 196 BC. Looted by Attila´s troops in the 5th century, it became the capital of a Lombardian duchy a century later. After the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom by Charlemagne, the Franks ruled here.

End of the 11th century Bergamo had become an independent commune, with a lot of feuding between the local the Guelph and Ghibelline factions.

In 1428 Bergamo was ceded in 1428 by the Duchy of Milan to the Republic of Venice and was transformed into a fortified city, protecting the trade routes leading into the Rhine Valley.

The French Revolutionary Army ended more than three centuries of Venetian rule in 1797. Bergamo was part of the "Cisalpine Republic".
At Congress of Vienna, Bergamo was assigned to the (Austrian) Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered Bergamo in 1859. The city was incorporated into the newly founded Kingdom of Italy.

Bergamo has two centres: Città alta ("upper city"), a hilltop medieval town, and the Città bassa ("lower city").

The Duomo as well as the Romanesque basilica Santa Maria Maggiore and the Cappella Colleoni are standing side by side in the Città alta.

Within this ensemble is the octagonal baptistery, built in 1340. In 1650 the baptistery was dismantled, but was saved, and in 1856 reassembled. It was moved to its present site in 1889.