In the city of Lombardy, northern Italy

 “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

============================
(in northern Italy) Lombardy, this country's leading industrial and commercial center, has the largest population of any Italian region. The population is concentrated in the industrial cities of the upper plains and foothills, while the south has lots of great farmlands. Featured here is the city of Bergamo in Lombardy. It too, has two distinct centers: the Alta (upper) city and the Bassa (lower) city. In the southern foothills of the Alps between the Brembo and Serio rivers, Bergamo was originally the center of the Orobi tribe, but became a Roman town in 196 BCE. Rebuilt after destruction by Attila the Hun, it was later the seat of a Lombard duchy and became independent in the 12th century. Ruled by the Milanese Visconti family after 1329, it passed in 1428 to Venice until 1797, when the French included it in the Cisalpine Republic (established by Napoleon). In 1815 it became Austrian and, in 1859, part of the Italian kingdom.