If you have already taken the first funicular and reached Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe in the Upper Town, don’t stop your climb: go and try out the second one, to visit the San Vigilio hill!
This system leads you to a less-popular part of the city, worthy of being visited as it’s surrounded by nature and represents the perfect starting point for a walk across the wonderful “Parco dei Colli –Hills Park”, a protected green area of 4,700 hectares. It was inaugurated on August 27th 1912 and designed by Alessandro Ferretti, one of the best Italian engineers of that time, who planned tens of funicular railways and realized about 15 of them.
San Vigilio funicular covers 630 meters, with a 90 m difference in height and a slope going from 10% to 22%, which lets you enjoy a stunning view of the hills and the plain.
The San Vigilio funicular was built in order to enhance the hill’s urbanization, connecting it with the rest of the city. The mechanical part was carried out by “La Société des Usines L. de Roll”, from Bern, while the original coaches were manufactured by Fervet, acronym of Fabbricazione E Riparazione Vagoni E Tramway (“Manufacturing and Restoration of Coaches and Tramways”). This company was established in Bergamo in 1907 and soon became one of the leading mechanics and steel industries in Italy, giving work to thousands of Bergamo citizens who were proud to be their employees.
In spite of the San Vigilio funicular’s huge success, the company established specifically to build it had to close the business in 1918; it was replaced by the municipal enterprise till 1976, when the government license expired.
In 1984 the Managing Commission decided that the time was right to radically transform the implant, so the renovation works begun in 1987: the two coaches, that were able to accommodate up to 32 people each, were replaced by a single coach of the maximum capacity of 55 people, while the double railway was removed.
Currently, ATB spa (Bergamo’s Transportation Company) is entrusted of it, and the ticket is included in the urban one, also valid for buses.
If you have already taken the first funicular and reached Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe in the Upper Town, don’t stop your climb: go and try out the second one, to visit the San Vigilio hill!
This system leads you to a less-popular part of the city, worthy of being visited as it’s surrounded by nature and represents the perfect starting point for a walk across the wonderful “Parco dei Colli –Hills Park”, a protected green area of 4,700 hectares. It was inaugurated on August 27th 1912 and designed by Alessandro Ferretti, one of the best Italian engineers of that time, who planned tens of funicular railways and realized about 15 of them.
San Vigilio funicular covers 630 meters, with a 90 m difference in height and a slope going from 10% to 22%, which lets you enjoy a stunning view of the hills and the plain.
The San Vigilio funicular was built in order to enhance the hill’s urbanization, connecting it with the rest of the city. The mechanical part was carried out by “La Société des Usines L. de Roll”, from Bern, while the original coaches were manufactured by Fervet, acronym of Fabbricazione E Riparazione Vagoni E Tramway (“Manufacturing and Restoration of Coaches and Tramways”). This company was established in Bergamo in 1907 and soon became one of the leading mechanics and steel industries in Italy, giving work to thousands of Bergamo citizens who were proud to be their employees.
In spite of the San Vigilio funicular’s huge success, the company established specifically to build it had to close the business in 1918; it was replaced by the municipal enterprise till 1976, when the government license expired.
In 1984 the Managing Commission decided that the time was right to radically transform the implant, so the renovation works begun in 1987: the two coaches, that were able to accommodate up to 32 people each, were replaced by a single coach of the maximum capacity of 55 people, while the double railway was removed.
Currently, ATB spa (Bergamo’s Transportation Company) is entrusted of it, and the ticket is included in the urban one, also valid for buses.
