The short answer
If your hotel is inside the zone, it can register your plate — and it can do so up to 72 hours AFTER you drove in. The permit costs €1.00 a day for transit, €5.00 with parking. If you are not staying inside the walls, do not drive up: take the funicular from Città Bassa, or a taxi, and leave the car below.
The zones
Centro storico di Città Alta
The walled upper town — the reason you came. It never opens to unauthorised cars: no evening window, no Sunday window. Reach it by funicular from the lower town, by taxi, or park outside the walls.
Other permanent zones
via Pelabrocco · via XX Settembre, via Sant'Alessandro and piazza Pontida · largo Gavazzeni, piazza Matteotti (Teatro Donizetti) and largo Belotti · via Tasso and via Pignolo · piazza Dante · piazzale Marconi · piazza Matteotti, via Borfuro, via Crispi and passaggio Zeduri.
Città Alta e Colli, and Valverde
These operate on set days and evenings, but the council's regulation does not publish a single timetable for them. We do not invent one — check with ATB, or ask us and we will confirm it.
School-term zones
via Cappuccini, via Don Bepo Vavassori, via Pradello, via Cadorna, via Fornoni, via Sylva/Bixio/Venanzio/Arcangeli, via Edison and via Righi.
Fully electric vehicles
Exempt under the regulation — but the plate must still be notified to the camera system. Free blue-line parking, by contrast, is reserved to electric vehicles of Bergamo residents.
The hotel scheme, which is unusually clear
Bergamo writes it into the regulation rather than leaving it to each property. Accommodation inside a ZTL receives transit permits equal to its number of rooms. Hotels also get transit and parking permits on a sliding scale:
- 1 permit — up to 5 rooms
- 2 permits — up to 10 rooms
- 3 permits — up to 15 rooms
- 4 permits — more than 15 rooms
The cost is trivial: €1.00 a day per plate for transit only, €5.00 a day for transit and parking — parking being available to hotels rather than to other accommodation. Validity cannot exceed the length of your stay, and is capped at 30 days for hotels. The property prints the permit through the council's online system and you display it on the windscreen.
Garages work the same way: operators of car parks inside a ZTL notify their customers' plates on arrival, and a transit permit is issued for the shortest route in and straight out again.
Two rules that rescue people
- 72 hours to register, after the fact. The guest's plate may be notified up to three days after the vehicle entered the zone. So arriving first and dealing with reception afterwards is fine — the opposite of Siena, where the permit must exist before you drive, or Bologna, where the ticket must be active first.
- 120 hours to put things right. A driver who was entitled to enter but had not registered in time can avoid the penalty by notifying the transit within five days of passing the gate. It applies to the exempt categories and to restaurant customers in the Città Alta Colli zone. It does not legalise an entry you were never entitled to make — but if the right existed and the paperwork lagged, that is a genuine reprieve.
Driving up for dinner? Ask the restaurant.
Restaurants in the Città Alta Colli evening zone can obtain temporary transit permits for customers with a booking, where the restaurant has no private parking and is poorly served by public transport. Hardly any visitor thinks to ask — and it is exactly what the provision exists for. Mention it when you reserve the table.
Two wheels, and electric cars
Motorcycles and mopeds are stricter here than in most of Italy. They are exempt in one zone only — the evening and holiday ZTL of Città Alta e Colli. Everywhere else in Bergamo they need a permit exactly like a car.
Fully electric vehicles may transit all zones without a permit, under the regulation's exemptions — but the plate must still be notified to the camera system. Free parking on the blue lines is a separate matter, and is reserved to electric vehicles belonging to Bergamo residents.
Frequently asked questions
Can I drive up to my hotel in Città Alta?
If the hotel is inside the ZTL, yes — and Bergamo has the clearest scheme in Italy for it. Accommodation inside a restricted zone receives transit permits equal to its number of rooms, plus transit-and-parking permits on a sliding scale: one for up to 5 rooms, two up to 10, three up to 15, four for more than 15. The cost is trivial: €1.00 a day per plate for transit only, €5.00 with parking.
Do I have to sort the permit before I arrive?
No, and this is what makes Bergamo unusually forgiving: the guest's plate can be registered UP TO 72 HOURS AFTER the vehicle actually entered the ZTL. So you can arrive first and deal with the paperwork at reception. Almost everywhere else in Italy the permit has to exist before you drive through the gate.
What are the ZTL hours in Città Alta?
There are none to wait for. The historic core of the upper town is a permanent ZTL, 00:00 to 24:00, camera-monitored. Several other zones in the city are permanent too. Only the Città Alta e Colli and Valverde zones operate on set evenings and days, and the council does not publish a single timetable for those.
I was entitled to enter but forgot to register the plate. Am I fined?
Possibly not. Bergamo allows a driver who WAS entitled to enter, but had not registered in time, to avoid the penalty by notifying the transit within 120 HOURS of passing the gate. It applies to the exempt categories and to restaurant customers in the Città Alta Colli zone. It does not legalise an entry you were never entitled to make — but if the right existed and the paperwork lagged, five days is a real reprieve.
I am driving up to a restaurant in Città Alta for dinner. What do I do?
Ask the restaurant when you book. Restaurants in the Città Alta Colli evening zone can obtain temporary transit permits for CUSTOMERS WITH A BOOKING, where the restaurant has no private parking and is poorly served by public transport. Hardly any visitor thinks to ask, and it is exactly what the provision exists for.
Is my electric hire car exempt?
For transit, yes: fully electric vehicles may enter all Bergamo ZTLs without a permit. But the plate must still be notified to the camera system, or the gate treats it as unauthorised. Note that free parking on the blue lines is a separate matter and is reserved to electric vehicles belonging to Bergamo residents.
Can I ride a scooter into Città Alta?
Not without a permit. Motorcycles and mopeds are exempt in ONE zone only — the evening and holiday ZTL of Città Alta e Colli. Everywhere else in Bergamo they need a permit exactly like a car, which is stricter than most Italian cities.
I have a disabled badge. Is access automatic?
Vehicles carrying a badge holder may transit without a permit, up to a maximum of three vehicles — but the plates must be notified to the camera system first. The camera reads the plate, not the badge on the dashboard, so without the registration a fine is generated regardless of what is displayed.
Staying inside the walls of Città Alta?
Tell Pronto where and when — it reads this same verified data and answers in seconds, free during beta. And if you are actually driving up, we will confirm the current position with the council for you. In Bergamo the window to register is measured in days, which is generous — but it is still a window.
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Source: Comune di Bergamo regulation, Allegato Ordinanza n.229/412657 of 13 October 2025, published by ATB Mobilità (atb.bergamo.it), which issues all permits on the council's behalf. Rules are set by ordinance and change without notice; this page carries the date it was last checked and is reviewed monthly.