The redevelopment of the Bergamo vegetable market takes off with an intervention that is part of a larger project that redesigns a piece of the city.
At present the total surface area of the vegetable market, which was inaugurated in 1973, is just under 45,000 m2. With the expansion the surface area will be approximately 70,000 m2.
On the new surfaces available, Bergamo Mercati will create a refrigerated platform with a flap area connected directly to the wholesalers’ shelters and will create new and modern structures towards the Celadina district.
The expected investment, of approximately 17 million Euros, is divided into two phases:
the first will carry out the works connected to the wholesalers’ activities for a value of approximately 10 million euros with the completion of the works expected for the end of 2026;
the second phase will redevelop the part of the management and commercial building for a value of approximately 7 million euros.
The areas around the vegetable market are significantly reorganized by the new PGT definitively approved by the City Council. In fact, the railway section between Bergamo station and Orio al Serio airport will be built, the railway doubling from Bergamo towards Brescia and as a fundamental work for the vegetable market a new railway underpass with connection to the city’s ring road system, to the MI-BG-BS motorway and the airport area.
The new underpass will be inserted into a system of 4 roundabouts around the new perimeter of the vegetable market area and, if on the one hand it will make it easier for vehicles to travel around the area, on the other it will allow for the creation of a new and safer entrance to the Market from the South.
“ Over the last year the proposal contained in the Masterplan of Bergamo Mercati spa, the vegetable market management company, has undergone a strong acceleration – explains president Giacomo Salvi -. To allow our company to cope with the investment, the City Council also approved a capitalization of Bergamo Mercati through the transfer to the company of the yards and buildings envisaged by the Masterplan.
The real challenge now begins with the construction of the works, the management and the daily transformation of the market. We know we can count on the support and active collaboration of all shareholder members; but above all on the sharing of economic operators for a project that will improve their work in a qualified and consistent way”.
Bergamo is one of the only three Italian cities (along with Alba and Parma) recognized by UNESCO for gastronomic creativity, in an area that just a few weeks ago constituted an important food district involving 196 municipalities.
“The expansion of the vegetable market – underlines the outgoing mayor Giorgio Gori – is one of the most significant operations of this part of the city, bordered by a great work that the PNRR brought with it, namely the railway connection between Bergamo station and Orio al Serio airport. The city’s fruit and vegetable market renews its skills and responds in a concrete and modern way to entrepreneurs: wholesalers, retailers and agricultural producers. It also intercepts the needs of visitors and an increasingly demanding and competent public, who are increasingly looking for healthy, 0 km food”.
