Costa Valle Imagna (

Bergamasque The Bergamasque dialect is the western variant of the Eastern Lombard group of the Lombard language. It is mainly spoken in the province of Bergamo and in the area around Crema, in central Lombardy. Bergamasque has official status in the p ...

: ) is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' counting c 600 inhabitants in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Neighbouring communes are Bedulita, Carenno, Roncola, Sant'Omobono Terme and

Torre de' Busi Torre de' Busi ( Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about northwest of Bergamo. Torre de' Busi borders the following municipalities: ...

Geography

Costa lies on a high slope above the

Valle Imagna Valle may refer to: * Valle (surname) Geography *"Valle", the cultural and climatic zone of the dry subtropical Interandean Valles of the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northwest Argentina * University of Valle, a public university in Cali, Colom ...

. The village has panoramic views of the

Bergamo Alps The Bergamasque Alps or Bergamo Alps (Italian: ''Alpi Orobie'', sometimes translated into English as Orobic Alps) are a mountain range in the Italian Alps. They are located in northern Lombardy and named after the city Bergamo, south of the mo ...

, including Monte Resegone to the north. From the former ski resort of Forcella Alta and the Pertüs pass, elevation , the whole of the

Brianza Brianza (, , lmo, label= Brianzöö dialect, Briànsa) is a geographical, historical and cultural area of Italy, at the foot of the Alps, in the northwest of Lombardy, between Milan and Lake Como. Geography Brianza extends from the ...

range is visible. For communication reasons the town has had closer links to the San Martino valley, Almenno San Salvatore and the plain, rather than to the rest of the Valle Imagna.

History

Originally the area seems to have been used for summer grazing, Costa seems to have been populated year-round only since 1300. The town faces northeast and gets very cold in winter; as a result Costa was known in local slang as "Valle Imagna's warehouse of snow" (''la nevera della Valle imagna''). When the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

annexed the province of Bergamo in 1428, the town found itself on the borders between Venice and the Duchy of Milan. This is reflected in the slang of the town, which refers to "foreigners" as ''bir'', the equivalent of ''

sbirri ''Sbirri'' is a 2009 dramatic documentary, directed by Roberto Burchielli. It was released in Italy on April 10, 2009, Plot The protagonist is a journalist (Raoul Bova Raoul Bova (born 14 August 1971) is an Italian actor. Bova's European ...

'', a medieval police force. It has been suggested that this dates back to customs officials sent from

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

to patrol the borders of the republic. In the Counter-reformation, a bishop sent a dispatch deploring the state of the village's church that was a result of the poverty of the area. A

plague pit A plague pit is the informal term used to refer to mass graves in which victims of the Black Death were buried. The term is most often used to describe pits located in Great Britain, but can be applied to any place where bubonic plague victims were ...

is evidence of the 1630 epidemic described by

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...

. Since the early 20th century, Costa Valle Imagna has grown in its role of summer resort.

References

Cities and towns in Lombardy {{Bergamo-geo-stub