The town of Berkovitsa is situated on the northern slope of the Berkovska Stara Planina Mountain (part of the Balkan Range) along the valley of the Berkovitsa River, at an altitude of 405 m. The highest point of the Berkovitsa Municipality is the summit Kom (2016 m). The neighbouring municipalities are Montana, Varshets, Godech, Vratsa and Georgi Damyanovo.
Berkovitsa was mentioned for the first time in Ottoman documents of 1491. It was then both a town and an administrative unit - a subdivision of the District of Sofia. Another decree of the Sultan of 1565 mentions Berkovitsa again as an administrative unit. It is the successor of an old Roman fortified settlement on the way from Sofia to Lom. The remains of a fortress and a church of c. 4 were discovered at the elevation Kaleto west of the town. The settlement was known as early as the reign of King Kaloyan, and was mentioned as a border settlement in the period of the Vidin Kingdom.
Although it is situated at the foot of the mountain and far form the settlements in the field, during the Ottoman rule Berkovitsa was an attractive commercial and crafts centre not only for the inhabitants of the region, but also for the population beyond the mountain - in the regions of Tsaribrod, Pirot and Nish (now in Serbia). The traffic through Berkovitsa and the Petrohan Pass was always busy; goods were transported to be sold in Sofia, Kyustendil, Plovdiv and other places in the interior. Today the shortest road from the Danube to the Aegean region passes through the Petrohan Pass.
