Torre Boldone

Torre Boldone sits at the mouth of the Val Seriana, on the right bank of the Serio, along the old road that climbed from Bergamo into the valley, and is now welded to the city. Its geography was made by the roggia Serio Grande, the canal Bergamo had dug to water its holdings on the plain, cutting lengthwise across the territory. Fifteen mills grew up along it, driving sawmills, presses and forge hammers; in 1428, in the war between Milan and Venice, the channel was drained and the stranded mills were burnt.

The village first appears in 847, as Turre, in a notarial deed ratifying an exchange. Which tower is meant is unclear: most likely the one at Viandasso, while nearby Imotorre means a tower set low; Boldone comes from the personal name Baldo. The arms are a misunderstanding written out fair: the tower is crenellated in Ghibelline fashion in a village always Guelph, and the crowned dove beside it belongs to the Boldù, a Venetian family that reached the Bergamo country in the fifteenth century but seems never to have lived here: their arms were taken, it appears, for the mere echo of Boldù, the local name of the village. The letters S.M. beside the tower are for the patron, Saint Martin.