“There’s really no reason to visit Bergamo,” my Italian classmates back in high school told me. I spent my senior year in the northern Italian city of Brescia, and my friends and host family there seemed offended at my suggestion of taking a day trip to the neighboring city. I explained that I wanted to visit the hill town of the “Città Alta,” the medieval “high city” of Bergamo, since Lombardia only had a handful of hill towns.

“What’s wrong with Brescia? We have a castle and Roman ruins … ” was the inevitable response as my loyalty was called into question. It didn’t help that Brescia’s soccer club is mortal enemies with the Atalanta team from Bergamo. I suggested visiting Lake Como near Bergamo, but my Bresciani friends snapped back, “We have Lago di Garda, the biggest and most beautiful lake in Italy. Who needs Como?”