Walking along the Venetian Walls of Bergamo Alta, once you reach the height of Porta S. Giacomo you can admire the magnificent Palazzo Medolago Albani.
Belonged to the Vailetti counts, awarded the title in 1695 by the Duke of Parma Francesco Farnese, was originally a 16th-century-style palace.
The last of the Vailetti family, Luigi, decided to have the mansion razed to erect a completely new one.
The project was entrusted in 1770 to Simone Cantoni, architect of Ticino origin who was also the author of Villa Olmo in Como.
Overcoming the not a few difficulties created by, among other things, the marked slope of the terrain, the result was eventually a splendid example of a neoclassical palace.
The building went up for sale upon Luigi’s passing and was purchased, in 1835, by the City of Bergamo to become the home of the Sarpi classical high school.
Since the rooms could not be satisfactorily adapted to the new function, the Municipality resold it six years later to Count Giacomo Medolago Albani.
The mansion was transformed and embellished by the new owners, becoming one of the most elegant in the city and a witness to major historical and cultural events.
These include, thanks to its role as a palace of representation, the visit to Bergamo of Elizabeth of Bavaria together with her consort Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph in 1857 and, two years later, the meeting between Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II.
From the architectural point of view, the building has a C-shaped plan with the central courtyard facing the panorama of Lower Town.
All the elevations except the one on St. James Street have a high rusticated basement: a clever trick employed by Cantoni to reduce the visual impact of the height difference, almost to the point of hiding it, thanks to the fact that the two-tone and half-columns of the facade catch the viewer’s eye, guiding it upward.
Above the windows of the main floor are inserted five bas-relief medallions with scenes from Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, made by Giovanni Maria Benzoni in 1848.
The balustrade set above the cornice is adorned with statues and a clock by sculptor Antonio Gelpi.
Also in perfect Neoclassical style, the staircase that internally ascends to the second floor is symmetrical, with two flights of stairs.
On the second floor, or ‘piano nobile,’ you can visit the Green, Red, and Blue Rooms, whose names derive from their respective tapestries; the Music Room, in which the warm notes of musical performances resonate; and the Bonomini Gallery, decorated with fine frescoes by the Bergamasque artist of the same name.
Other artists who decorated the interiors of Palazzo Medolago Albani are Luigi Deleidi known as il Nebbia, Filippo Comerio, and Vincenzo Bonomini.