Bergamo

For 2025 the Department of Finance lists for Bergamo a flat municipal IRPEF surcharge of 0.8%. With ATB System the same pass works on buses, funiculars and the T1 tram; the city is zone 00 and there are fares for young people, families, students, under-14s and over-65s. OMI rents and prices are in the data.

The Comune supports regulated-rent (canone concordato) lets to young people through the Fondo Abitare Under 35 and, from 2026, a Guarantee Fund that is free for landlords, run through the Agenzia Abito Bergamo. Municipal flats are dedicated to the Housing First model for people in severe marginalisation. OMI rents and prices are in the data.

The Comune's service guide is translated into ten languages, with intercultural mediators who call back in the caller's language. The Angelo Mai civic library is on Piazza Vecchia. Driving into Città Alta requires a permit or notifying the plate number.

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

The TEB tram links Bergamo station with Albino over 16 stops; line T2 to Villa d'Almè is being prepared. The funicular climbs to Città Alta. ATB buses run from the station to Orio al Serio airport in about ten minutes. Città Alta and the hills are restricted traffic zones with resident permits and new rules in 2026.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

Planning rests with ATS Bergamo (via Gallicciolli 4); care in the city rests with ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII, whose hospital at piazza OMS 1 provides highly specialised care and has an emergency and critical care department. GP choice goes through the dedicated section of the ATS website.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

In 2025 the province of Bergamo has Italy's lowest unemployment rate for the second year running, at 1.3%, according to the Chamber of Commerce. The employment rate fell to 67.9%, below the Lombardy average, and inactivity is rising, especially among women.

A VAT number (partita IVA) from the Agenzia delle Entrate for freelancers; for businesses the Comunicazione Unica to the Registro delle Imprese, which also notifies the Agenzia, INPS, INAIL and SUAP. Main forms: sole proprietorship, SNC/SAS, SRL and SRLS, SPA. Compulsory PEC, annual chamber fee, e-invoicing. Invitalia incentives; non-EU citizens need a self-employment permit or the investor visa.

Founded in 1968 in Città Alta as a university institute of languages, a state university since 1 November 1992; today organised in three campuses (economics and law on via dei Caniana, humanities, engineering in Dalmine), with sites also on via Pignolo and at Sant'Agostino.

The medieval core on the hill and the modern city below; the 16th-century walls of the Republic of Venice, since 2017 part of the UNESCO site of the Venetian works of defence; the Campanone that tolls a hundred times every evening at 10 pm; the Accademia Carrara, founded in 1796; a university born in Città Alta in 1968.

Bergamo has permanent limits on the most polluting vehicles, up to Euro 4 diesels; the ban on Euro 5 diesels planned for 1 October 2026 has been postponed to 1 October 2027. Temporary measures kick in when PM10 stays above limits; the city gathers all the rules on its BergamoRespira page.

In Città Alta, Piazza Vecchia with the Contarini fountain, the meridian of the Palazzo della Ragione, the Angelo Mai Library and the Campanone; the walk along viale delle Mura and the viewpoint on the south-western bastion; the funicular. In the lower city, the Accademia Carrara.

The "Lorenzo Rota" Botanical Garden has two free sections, in Città Alta at Colle Aperto and in the Astino valley. The Fondazione Teatro Donizetti runs the theatre season (drama, opera, operetta, dance), the Donizetti Opera festival and Bergamo Jazz.