The small capital of the Swiss Confederation

I got back last night after a very short business trip to Bern, an engagement that required only a few hours but which, because of the poor connections with Milan, forced me to stay overnight. No harm in that, because this way I had the chance to visit this small city a bit better than I had a few years ago and to see something new. The problem with business trips is precisely that you don't always have the chance to play the tourist a little too.

The flight connections with Milan are not very convenient, with few flights operated by Air Dolomiti in partnership with Lufthansa and including a stopover in Munich, with a total time of almost five hours and costs in the region of 700 euros. I therefore preferred to use, for the second time in a few months, Lugano airport, in Switzerland, from which there is a direct connection to Bern operated by Darwin Airline, a small but efficient company, to which I'm becoming attached both for the quality of the transport and the on-board service and for the price, which from Lugano to Bern, return, was 232.31 euros.

Bern is a beautiful little city, founded in 1200 (more or less, I don't remember the exact year) on the remains of a Roman oppidum, which almost immediately developed in the Middle Ages (during which it was also rebuilt after a fire) and which has kept a splendid medieval appearance still particularly appreciable today. The old town is enclosed in a bend of the river Aare, splendidly preserved, certainly one of the finest I have so far had the chance to visit and which, very deservedly, Unesco has classified as a World Heritage Site.

The hotel that had been booked for me, the Kreuz Hotel, is right in the old town and so it was fairly easy for me to visit it on foot without having to resort to public transport. Undoubtedly very pleasant to stroll around the centre of Bern, largely a pedestrian area, very picturesque, clean and tidy (as with us you only find in a few small towns in Alto Adige), with streets lined with arcaded buildings, with characteristic shops, many of them almost semi-basement and with vaulted ceilings (typical of the cellars of old), which alternate very pleasantly with bars, restaurants and offices. An interesting occasion for shopping, with all the best of Swiss and world production available, but with prices that are certainly not among the most reasonable.

You could say that almost everything you come across is interesting, from the simple fountains (there are about ten that date back to the medieval period) to truly admirable private buildings (many of them with flowering balconies or windows), ending with the most important monuments that symbolise the city, such as the splendid Clock Tower, whose construction dates back to the founding of the city, distinctive for its large sixteenth-century clock with animated figures.

Bubenbergplatz is one of the most beautiful and lively squares you come across and overlooking it is the lovely Church of the Holy Spirit, built in a fine Baroque style. Immediately after, you're in the square where the splendid, monumental Federal Palace stands, seat of the Swiss parliament. Towards evening I saw the same building again from a different perspective, across the river Aare, in which it was reflected with beautiful effects.

A few more steps and you're in Theatre Square, where the Music Hall stands, and immediately after there's another jewel of Bern, the Cathedral of Saint Vincent, a fifteenth-century building (which locals call the Münster) presenting a very beautiful façade (the entrance part is splendidly decorated and adorned with statues), a soaring bell tower and an interior with vaulted ceilings marvellously lit by splendid fifteenth-century stained glass windows, with a majestic carved wooden choir and an ancient organ.

Other interesting buildings you come across are the Gothic Old Town Hall, the Palace of the President of the Swiss Confederation and the building housing the Museum of the History of Printing and the Crafts Museum (which I didn't visit). From the outside I saw the house once lived in by Albert Einstein during the period he lived in Bern and during which he is said to have developed the Theory of Relativity (of the series: you never stop learning, because until then I wasn't aware of this detail).

The new part of the city has spread beyond the bend of the river, from 1800 onwards, when Bern became the capital of the Confederation. A modern but very pleasant urban layout, neighbourhoods with gardens and pleasant tree-lined avenues, always characterised by order and cleanliness. Indeed, Bern is not only a historic city, but a city that has acquired a certain importance in commerce and also in industry, although these are mainly activities such as the production of watches, chocolate and pharmaceutical products that certainly don't create a high environmental impact.

A city of about 130,000 inhabitants, which I found very interesting and where anyone staying for a few days would certainly find many reasons to be interested. We've already spoken of the historical and artistic ones, but it's also a very lively city, with continuous cultural events, appointments and theatre and music performances, museums, restaurants, nightclubs, discos, everything that can be useful and interesting for a pleasant stay.

A flaw of Bern might be the spoken language. Anyone who doesn't know German could find themselves very uncomfortable. In Bern the official language is German, the inhabitants speak a kind of Swiss-German, strangely the French language is very poorly spoken and English is spoken by hotel staff on reception (the others, not at all) and very little (perhaps it would be better to say almost not at all) by restaurant staff. An observation that surprised me not a little, considering that Bern is universally recognised as a cosmopolitan city.

A very good public transport service, with buses, trams and trolleybuses that in practice connect every corner of the city. Bern Belp airport is about nine kilometres from the city centre and is connected by a regular bus service. Bern is located in the centre of Switzerland and is therefore very well connected both by rail and by motorway to the main Swiss cities such as Basel, Zurich and Geneva. The only flaw is the direct connections with Italy, which are in practice non-existent, given that you always have to make a stopover, unless you have the chance, as I did, to leave from Lugano.

A very good hotel where I stayed, the Hotel Kreuz, three stars, in a very central position and therefore very convenient for visiting the old town. A period building, very beautiful on the outside, completely renovated inside, rooms comfortable enough, essential furnishings but with a perfect bathroom, an excellent restaurant. A hotel I judge very positively but which I consider more suited to a business clientele than to a tourist. The price of a single is around 70.00 euros with breakfast included, a reasonable cost for being in Bern and for the quality of the hotel.

In conclusion, I'm left with a very favourable impression of Bern, a beautiful and quiet city, a particularly pleasant old town, convenient urban public services; in short, a very pleasant city that is not easily forgotten.