Eating out in Bergamo

There are four secrets to what makes a place the perfect weekend destination: food, culture, natural beauty and price, says travel blogger Sofia from As We Travel.

If you’re going away on a long trip that lasts for a few weeks, then the price of the flight tickets are not that important. But part of the point with weekend trips is that they’re supposed to be spontaneous, fun little trips that will take you away for a few days to explore something new.

It’s not something you want to save up for months to be able to afford, which is why the prices in your destination, and flight tickets, matter more. By using Skyscanner’s ‘Everywhere’ feature, we scanned the web for the best deals leaving Porto on the date we wanted to leave, and found a small city in Italy called Bergamo.

It turned out to be the perfect weekend destination, full of culture and with the most beautiful medieval town perched on top of a hill with 360 degree views stretching all the way to Milan and the Dolomites. We spent four days indulging in what is perhaps Italy’s best and most important feature: the food...

Pizza

What would pizza be without Italy, and what would Italy be without pizza? That is a good question to ponder while you’re digging into what must be some of the freshest, most delicious pizzas in the world. It doesn’t matter if you go to a five star restaurant or a small corner restaurant without a name, the pizza will blow you away.

Spritz

Whether it’s lunch, afternoon or dinner, you’ll see young Italians sitting at cafes’ outdoor seatings with a Spritz in their hand. It doesn’t matter if it’s a work day or weekend, early or late, when it’s hot outside, nothing goes down quite as well as a cool, bitter Spritz. The wine based cocktail (with a dash of Aperol or Campari and sparkling water) is very popular in northern Italy, especially among students.

Gelato

Ice cream and Italian gelato might seem like the same thing - but once you’ve tried real Italian gelato, you’ll know better. With creamy consistency and well balanced flavors, Italian gelato is the real deal, and I keep wondering how in the world they do it?! When you’re in Bergamo, a place not to miss is ‘La Marianna’, the café that invented the ‘Stracciatella’ flavor that is now one of the most common ice cream flavours worldwide.

Pasta

We’re used to eating pasta that is drenched in all kinds of sauces and has loads of ingredients to give it any flavor at all, so when reading a menu where the only extra ingredient aside from pasta is olive oil and garlic - it seems pretty bland. But Italians know the secrets to make something out of nothing – it all comes down to the quality. A lot of traditional northern Italian food comes from a time when the people were very poor and had to create food from almost no resources. So if you’re in Italy and you see a simple pasta dish - don’t be fooled, it will taste amazing!