The origins of the city’s financial district

Federico I Barbarossa - 1156

Bergamo’s financial sector, with which the banks of the Centro Piacentiniano are today synonymous – developed in synergy with the Fiera di Sant’Alessandro. But the story has its earliest origins at a wedding in Würzburg in 1156. Among the privileged few present at the marriage of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa to Beatrice of Burgundy is Gherardo, bishop of Bergamo. This latter, in addition to receiving confirmation of privileges already granted, obtained the right to coin money. Decades, however, would pass before the mint of Bergamo actually began issuing any money and it was the likeness of Barbarossa’s grandson, Frederick II, that in 1236 appeared on the “Marcha de Pergamo” or “Pergamino”, today used as the symbol of the city’s university.