expand: date=July 2008

Como is a city in Lombardy, Italy, north of Milan. Situated at the southern tip of the south-west arm of Lake Como, it is the capital of the province of Como (Comm in the local dialect of Western Lombard language) and directly borders the Swiss town of Chiasso. Como contains these frazioni: Ponte Chiasso, Garzola, Sagnino, Monteolimpino, Tavernola, Camnago Volta, Lora, Prestino, Breccia, Rebbio, Civiglio, Muggió, Albate.

History

Around the 1st Century BC, the territory became subject to the Romans. The town center was situated on the nearby hills, but it was then moved to its current location by order of Julius Caesar, who had the swamp near the southern tip of the lake drained and laid the plan of the walled city in the typical Roman grid of perpendicular streets. The newly founded town was named Novum Comum and had the status of municipium.

In 774, the town surrendered to invading Franks led by Charlemagne, and became a center of commercial exchange.

In 1127, Como lost a decade-long war with the nearby town of Milan. A few decades later, with the help of Frederick Barbarossa, the Comaschi could avenge their defeat when Milan was destroyed in 1162. Frederick promoted the construction of several defensive towers around the city limits, of which only one, the Baradello, remains.

Subsequently, the history of Como followed that of the Ducato di Milano, through the French invasion and the Spanish domination, until 1714, when the territory was taken by the Austrians. Napoleon descended into Lombardy in 1796 and ruled it until 1815, when the Austrian rule was resumed after the Congress of Vienna. Finally in 1859, with the arrival of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the town was freed from the Austrians and it became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoy.

At the end of World War II, after passing through Como on his escape towards Switzerland, Mussolini was taken prisoner and then shot by Comaschi partisans in Giulino di Mezzegra, a small town on the north shores of Como Lake.

As a curiosity, the Rockefeller fountain that today stands in the Bronx Zoo in New York City was once in the main square by the lakeside. It was bought by William Rockefeller in 1902.

Churches

• Duomo (cathedral), begun in 1396 on the site of the previous Romanesque church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The façade was built in 1457, with the characteristic rose window and a portal flanked by two Renaissance statues of the famous Comaschi Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger. The construction was finished in 1740. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with Gothic nave and two aisles divided by pilasters, while the transept wing and the relative apses are from the Renaissance age. It includes a carved 16th century choir and tapestries on cartoons by Giuseppe Arcimboldi. The dome is a rococo structure by Filippo Juvarra. Other artworks include 16th-17th Century tapestries and 16th Century paintings by Bernardino Luini and Gaudenzio Ferrari.
• San Fedele, a Romanesque church erected around 1120 over a pre-existing central plan edifice. The original bell tower was rebuilt in modern times. The main feature is the famous Door of St. Fedele, carved with medieval decorations.
• Sant'Agostino, built by the Cistercians in the early 14th Century, heavily renovated in the 20th. The interior and adjoining cloister have 15th-17th Century frescoes, but most of the decoration is Baroque.
• The Romanesque basilica of Sant'Abbondio, consecrated in 1095 by Pope Urban II. The interior, with a nave and four aisles, contains paintings dating to the 11th Century and frescoes from the 14th.
• San Carpoforo (11th Century, apse and crypt from 12th Century). According to tradition, it was founded re-using a former temple of the God Mercury to house the remains of St. Carpophorus and other local martyrs.