It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Berkovitsa Municipality, Montana Province and is close to the town of Varshets.

[1] Berkovitsa is situated on the northern slope of Kom Peak of the Berkovska Stara Planina Mountain along the valley of the Berkovitsa River, which is a tributary to the Barziya River, at an altitude above sea level 405 m. The town was mentioned for the first time in Ottoman documents of 1488.

The remains of the fortress and a church were discovered on high ground at Kaleto, just to the west of the present-day town.

At the end of August 1872, Vasil Levski arrived in Berkovitsa, together with the chairman of the Vratsa Revolutionary Committee, Mito Ankov.

In the late antique fortress Kaleto, located on a hill north of Berkovitsa, a large bishopric complex was built during early Christianity.