Clusone (Clüsü in Bergamasque dialect) is an Italian town and comune in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. Located in the Val Seriana, it received the honorary title of city on 15 May 1957 with a presidential decree which ratified a Napoleon's promise of the year 1801.

Clusone is part of the Serio Valley, even though from a orographic point of view the plateau of Clusone, from glacial origin, belongs in part to the basin of Oglio.

The climate of Clusone is temperate: in the winter, temperatures can fall to −5 °C (23 °F) and in summer may reach a maximum of 25 °C (77 °F).

Antiquity and Dark Ages

The city is of classical origin, probably dating back to the first settlement of Orobi which was founded in 1300 BC.

Later, in the Roman period, important settlements occurred that made the village a center of greater importance in the entire district, including the construction of fortifications. The city's name originates from this period and may come from the Latin word , indicating an enclosed space surrounded by mountains

The following centuries saw the end of Roman domination and the subsequent arrival of the Lombards, who were in turn followed by the Franks, who created the basis for the formation of the Holy Roman Empire and whose rulers determined the fate of the country throughout the entire medieval period.

The first written document which mentions Clusone dates from 774, in a deed that recorded the grant of the nucleus of the Rocca fortress by Charlemagne to the monks of San Martino di Tours. The fortress in question grew considerably in medieval times, so as to assume the appearance of a real castle, with walls and towers for defensive purposes.

A branch of the noble Aliprandi family of Milan, that assumed the surname Fanzago in place of that original, moved to Clusone at the end of the 14th century.

The Modern and Contemporary Period

The next accession to the territories of the Republic of Venice represented the period of maximum artistic, cultural and commercial development, permitting the achievement of a high degree of wealth. Clusone shared its fate with Venice until the treaty of Campoformio when it joined the Cisalpine republic.

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