Transformation of the City

Another thing I talked about with my supervisor was the transformation of large Italian cities. In the middle ages there were streets with very narrow houses built along each street. The Middle Ages saw the emergence of trade squares and was a very commercial period. Due to this, each house had a space beside it where they could have a shop. After the middle ages, in the Renaissance, richer families would buy a lot of the little houses and transform them into big palaces. There was a sort of competition between noble families of who could create the larges houses and palaces. They would garnish their houses with fancy gardens and decorations to show their wealth. The wealthy also transformed public spaces. The rich families would pool together money to create something that could be used by them. For example, in Bergamo, families in the upper town gathered together their money to pay for a theater uptown because downtown had a theater and they did not. This was not only a matter of convenience in the close location of the theater, but it was also a display of power by the wealthy families. Families would also put a lot of money into family tombs, and art for the church. One wealthy man destroyed part of an established church in order to make his own chapel.

In Rome there was a change in structure during the Baroque period (late 1500s- early 1600s). The structures of the middle ages were destroyed and larger streets were made. These streets typically had two circular centers on either side. These circles would consist of gardens or other public spaces. There was not as much Baroque architectural change in Northern Italy, but it was significant in places like Rome and Sicily.

One more thing that brought a lot of change to the towns were Railways. When the railways were built, new connections between towns were established. This was a typical transformation of Italian towns in the 1800s. The creation of railways changed the structure of the town. The railways were built outside of the previously established town. New roads were built to connect the towns to the railways and eventually the city expanded to include the railway station and the area around it.

The City Plan

When I met with my supervisor, Mrs. Barcella, she was very interested in discussing the general city planning with me. The basic plans for the city of Bergamo were the same basic plans as in other Italian cities that were built around the same time. First of all there were two major streets running through the city. There would be a main street going north to south, called the cardo, and another main street crossing it going east to west, called the decumano. Markets and buildings lined these main streets. Secondary streets formed off these parallel to the initial roads. Buildings would have a certain amount of allotted space to take up and this resulted in a rather grid-like city structure. The first walls that were built around Italian cities were the Roman walls. These walls surrounded the grid-like city in a square shape. Each side of the walls had a gate, so there was a north, east, south, and west gate to the city. As time went on, into the Middle Ages, the city grew outside of the initial Roman walls. The Roman walls were destroyed and a circular wall was created to surround the growing city. This happened around the 1100s, and 1200s. In the case of Bergamo there was a third series of walls built. The third walls were the Venetian walls. The Venetian walls were built around the 1500s and were jagged in shape and were important for the defense of Bergamo. Bergamo was in a key spot between Venice and Milan, so it needed to be protected. The walls of the Middle Ages were destroyed in order to make the Venetian walls. The walls were equipped with cannons, but Bergamo was never attacked so the wall remained in tact and the cannons were not used. Bergamo expanded but since the Citta Alta (upper city) was on a hill, the expansion happened lower down. Because of this, a new part of the city formed, a downtown or Citta Bassa. The Venetian walls did not get in the way of this expansion so they are some of the few walls that still remain in any of the old Italian cities. This is obviously a very simple description of the city planning but I felt that Mrs. Barcella did a very nice job explaining it. This was significant because it was not only the way Bergamo was formed but it was the way nearly all Italian cities were formed. Below is a rough sketch I drew of the city planning described by Mrs. Barcella:

Carnevale di Bergamo

The Carnival of Bergamo began as an ancient tradition of burning a wooden lady representing the defining problem of the previous year. The two week long festival celebrates recreation as well as death and rebirth of nature with the cycle of seasons. Falling in the middle of Lent and ending on Fat Tuesday, it takes place in many Italian cities, each with their own local flair.  Festivities include theatrical productions, music, parades, food and toy markets, symbolic costumes and masks, Halloween-ish dress-up for children, and a sea of confetti.

costumes symbolizing rebirth of nature

shops selling baked goods, candy, toys, and costumes

The iconic masked characters come from the traditional “zanni” or set of archetypal characters of the Commedia dell’Arte – a form of theatre born in 16^th century Italy. Instead of focusing on the written work of academics and philosophers, as in Commedia Erudita, Commedia dell’Arte is performed by professional actors portraying certain stock characters. These stock characters became iconic “masks,” beginning as satires of Italian stereotypes and developing into the archetypes of Italian theatre. Each mask is specific to a certain city and is emphasized there during the Carnevale; Bergamo’s mask is Arlecchino, the Harlequin, the mischievous servant of the iconic multicolored diamond costume. Venice’s mask is Pantalone, the miserly merchant.

postcards of the various "mascchere"

Bergamasque Arches

Today we walked all around the city of Bergamo. We went to two museums: The Archaeology Museum and The Academia. While I was walking around the city, I observed the various styles of buildings.  Because Bergamo has been a host to many different groups of people, it has many different types of architecture. One thing I noticed in particular is that there are arches everywhere, and arches are different based upon what period they are from. Many of the houses in the Citta Alta (upper city/ gated area) of Bergamo have arched doors.  Here is one arch below:

This arch is a simple Roman arch. Roman arches are characterized by being strong and rounded. Many of the doors of houses had this style of arch. As you can see, the door right next door also has a Roman arch. This arch comes from the time when the Romans were in control of Bergamo. Another type of arch I observed is a Gothic arch. These arches are from the Gothic era. The arch is pointed and is in a form that results in the ability to make structures taller. The Gothic period emphasized the importance of tall buildings. They especially wanted churches to be tall, to convey the presence of God. Below is a picture of a simple Gothic arch: