The end of the war and a desire for new beginnings, despite social and political tensions, led Bergamo to a period of tremendous transformation.

The 1951 Regulatory Plan was a further decisive moment in Bergamo’s history. It revealed the wisdom of those administering it not to disturb the upper town nor to populate the outskirts with high rise blocks.

The expansion of areas, hitherto considered to be the outskirts, such as Loreto, Longuelo, Santa Lucia, brought about comprehensive change to “living in town” and to its internal hierarchical relationships. Loreto, for example, ceased to be an outlying district of Bergamo and, with construction in the area around Piazza Varsavia, became one of the most vibrant sectors of town where diverse social and political expressions co-existed. Longuelo, with the building of council housing and also single occupancy units in the Sixties, together with the addition of the development of a municipal transport system and one linking the Town and the Province, underwent its first developmental phase, which then turned into a real boom in the Seventies.

The interviews which we conducted in this hall resulted in varied interpretations of the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s. We have omitted the political interpretations in favour of those experiences representative of day to day life, in the full knowledge that in-depth historical research into that era has yet to be carried out.

PHOTOGALLERY BERGAMO BY NIGHT