What is the Bergamo outdoor escape game?
The Bergamo outdoor escape game takes the escape room format up the hill into the Città Alta: you play on your smartphone, and each of the 10 stops holds a puzzle that you crack by looking at the surroundings and reasoning it through. Allow about 2 hours, with 22 minutes of walking over 2 km, and start on a day that suits you.
The puzzles are tied to the Campanone, Piazza Vecchia, Palazzo della Ragione and the Cittadella, and each one stands on its own, so no storyline is needed to move on. Up to three levels of hints are available. The upper town suits this format because it is compact and has many pedestrian lanes, which keeps the stops close together.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 22 min · 2 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do during the escape game
Solve
Work out the puzzle at each stop from what you can see and from logic. You do not need to know Bergamo beforehand.
Look up and down
Clues sit on façades, under the arcades and in the pavement, so do not look only straight ahead.
Walk
Follow Google Maps between stops: about 22 minutes of walking across 2 km, with a few climbs along the way.
Set your pace
No clock runs. Ask for a hint when you need one, enjoy an espresso, and carry on later or on another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it is for
Friends on a city break
Every stop gives the group a puzzle to argue over, and nobody has to know Bergamo in advance.
Couples
A shared challenge that keeps you talking as you move from one square to the next, without checking the time.
Team building
Teams of up to 5 each play on their own phone, so colleagues can share the reasoning between them.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The puzzle trail: from Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe to La Marianna
10 stops · about 22 min walking · start: Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe · finish: La Marianna
The first puzzle waits on Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe, at the top of the funicular, and the last at La Marianna on Colle Aperto. In between you solve puzzles near Porta San Giacomo, Santa Maria Maggiore, the cathedral, Palazzo della Ragione, the Campanone, Piazza Vecchia, the university and Piazza della Cittadella. Start in daylight if you can, since the puzzles are solved outdoors and wind or rain slow the game down. Google Maps guides you between stops, you can reorder them in the app, and no entry tickets are needed.
Open the route map ↗
1Piazza Mercato delle ScarpeStart
This small square at the top of the funicular from the lower town takes its name from the shoe market once held here. The funicular has climbed the hill to its upper station on the square since 1887. From here Via Gombito and Via Rocca lead into the medieval lanes of the Città Alta.
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2Porta San Giacomo
Porta San Giacomo is one of the four gates in the Venetian walls that the Republic of Venice built around the upper town from 1561. Its pale stone front carries the lion of Saint Mark, and a stone bridge leads up to it from the road below. Since 2017 the walls have been a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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3Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
Begun in 1137, this Romanesque basilica has no main façade on a square, so you enter through side porches guarded by stone lions. Its interior was later richly decorated in baroque style and holds the tomb of the composer Gaetano Donizetti, who was born in Bergamo. The Colleoni Chapel, built in the 1470s, stands right beside it.
4Bergamo Cathedral
The cathedral on Piazza Duomo is dedicated to Saint Alexander, a Roman soldier who according to tradition was martyred in Bergamo and became its patron saint. The church was rebuilt several times from the 15th century onwards, and its white façade was only completed in the 19th century. Beside it stands the octagonal Baptistery.
5Palazzo della Ragione
Built in the 12th century, this is one of the oldest town halls in Italy, raised on open arcades that link Piazza Vecchia with Piazza Duomo. The lion of Saint Mark on the façade recalls Venetian rule from 1428 to 1797. Under the arcades, look for the long sundial line set into the pavement.
6Campanone
The Campanone, the civic tower, rises about 52 metres beside Palazzo della Ragione and began life as a medieval tower house before the city took it over. Every evening at 10 pm its great bell still rings 100 times, a tradition that once announced the closing of the city gates.
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7Piazza Vecchia
Piazza Vecchia is the old civic centre of the upper town, with Palazzo della Ragione on one side and the white Palazzo Nuovo, home of the Angelo Mai Library, opposite. In the middle stands the Contarini Fountain, a gift from the Venetian governor Alvise Contarini in 1780. Le Corbusier is said to have called it one of the most beautiful squares in Europe.
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8University of Bergamo
The University of Bergamo was founded in 1968 and uses several historic buildings in the upper town as well as newer sites below. During term, students fill these lanes, so the Città Alta is a lived-in neighbourhood rather than an open-air museum.
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9Piazza della Cittadella
The Cittadella was built in the 14th century by the Visconti, lords of Milan, as a fortified stronghold on the western edge of the upper town. Its quiet square is now lined by the Natural History Museum and the Archaeological Museum. A passage under the tower leads on to Colle Aperto.
10La MariannaFinish
On Colle Aperto, just inside Porta Sant'Alessandro, stands the café and pastry shop La Marianna, where Enrico Panattoni created stracciatella ice cream in 1961. The flavour, milk ice cream with flakes of dark chocolate, is said to have been inspired by the egg soup of the same name.
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