Want to enjoy a hike in the countryside from the heart of the city? In Bergamo you can, thanks to the Parco dei Colli.

From outside the San Vigilio funicular stop, you walk up a cobbled street to the Scorlazzone steps, which lead to Val d’Astino and eventually the abbey.

The route takes you past villas, vineyards, hop fields, oak forests and chestnut trees, with plenty of places along the way to stop and capture Instagram-worthy snaps of Bergamo’s upper city and the plains beyond.

From Astino, you reach the abbey, where the park begins. The thick forests of Astino and Allegrezza – EU Sites of Community Importance – disappear.

Do make sure that you stop to take in the stunning views of the upper city and the plains beyond. The former Astino Abbey is the perfect place to gather your breath before setting off for Borgo Canale, one of the oldest hamlets in the city and the birthplace of the famed composer Gaetano Donizetti.