There are several nicknames for the municipality: Imperio del Cacique Niquia (Cacique Niquia's Empire), Cuna de Marco Fidel Suárez ("Marco Fidel Suárez's cradle"), "Ciudad de los artistas" ("Artist's city").

In July 1541, troops under the command of Jerónimo Luis Tejelo (Deputy Marshal to Jorge Robledo) found the wide valley of Los Aburrá inhabited by indigenous farmers who had "a habitat organized in groups with scattered houses, forming clusters of houses".

In 1574, the Spanish subject Gaspar de Rodas requested a land grant for the Aburrá Valley from the town hall of Santa Fe de Antioquia in order to establish therein "herds of livestock and agricultural plots", in order to provide food for the conquest.

In 1576, the captain of Rodas came to exercise control over the area from the Spanish Crown, permitting the use of the territory for corrals, ranches and flocks.

Thus they endowed their farms with chapels to signify prestige and noble origin and so it can be inferred that in Bello the colony was not given a foundation that "involve a regular pattern of squares and streets.

At the end of the eighteenth century, in 1788, Hatoviejo was elevated to the status of party, assigned to the jurisdiction of the town of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria in Medellin.

Topographically the urban part of the city is a tilted plane that descends from 1600 to 1400 meters above sea level.

The main topographic feature is the Cerro Quitasol (pyramidal mountain, 2,880 meters above sea level), located north of the city and considered by its grandeur as the tutelary hill of Bello.

The average rainfall is 1347 mm., The temperature is determined by climatic zones ranging from desert, through cold up to medium where he is the highest, which has an average temperature of 25.7 °C throughout the year, alternating between dry and wet periods and is cooled by winds that blow along the valley throughout the year.

Additionally the area receives trade winds that blow from the lower valleys of the Cauca river to the west and the Magdalena river to the east and middle, creating a dense layer of warm air, which causes the lower part of the town and some surrounding areas to increase in humidity and increase barometric temperature.

As a result of the wind, northern municipalities such as Bello, Copacabana, Girardota and Barbosa are warmer than the Antioquia capital of Medellin, despite its proximity.

In a smaller proportion are also strata 4 (middle) and 5 (medium-high) with 4.3% and 0.1% respectively, which are mainly rustic houses located on the sidewalks of the municipality.

According to figures from the DANE 2005 census, the ethnographic composition of the municipality is: Bello is governed by a democratic system based on administrative decentralization processes generated by the Political Constitution of Colombia, 1991.

The main functions of the Mayor are to administer the resources of the municipality, to provide for the welfare and interests of his fellow citizens and to represent them before the Federal Government.

He should also promote local policies to improve the quality of life, such as health programs, housing, education and road infrastructure; equally, he maintains public order.

There are three mobile operators all with nationwide coverage and GSM technology, Claro, Movistar (Telefónica) and Tigo of ETB, EPM and Luxembourg's Millicom International Telecommunications.

The Avantel company also operates in the municipality, offering trunking service, which is done by means of a hybrid cellular and radio.

Until 2010, the town had a football (soccer) team, Atlético Bello, in the Colombian Professional Second Division ("Primera B").