Basilica di San Fedele was constructed in the 6th century, though its façade was rebuilt in the 20th century. The rose windows and frescoes are from the 16th century. The church is designed in the Lombard Romanesque style. It has a unique circular layout with three apses and three naves. The basilica is dedicated to […]
Tag Archives | Como
Duomo di Como
Como’s impressive marble Duomo was designed by Lorenzo degli Spazzi. Construction began in 1396 and lasted 300 years. It’s considered the last Gothic cathedral in Italy. Though its style is mostly Gothic, Romanesque, Renaissance and baroque elements are also present. It was built on the ruins of the Romanesque basilica dedicated to Santa Maria Maggiore. […]
Como
The small city of Como lies at the southern tip of the southwest arm of Lake Como. Look closely and you’ll see a few remaining city walls from the 12th century. The streets’ grid design is courtesy of Julius Caesar, who did a bit of urban planning after the Romans moved in in the 1st […]
Varenna
Varenna is a short ferry ride across Lake Como from Bellagio and is just as attractive. Colorful old buildings sit among lush gardens spilling down the mountain toward the lake. We caught a late-afternoon ferry over and were in a rush to hike to Castello di Vezio, so we hurried through the small, charming, tourist-laden […]
Chiesa di San Giovanni, Torno
Tiny lakeside Torno and its few villas and (of course!) churches sit on a point on Lake Como. The Romanesque-Gothic Chiesa di San Giovanni is the main attraction as it contains a nail from the cross, supposedly. I was impressed by the landscaped tiered cemetery fronting the lake.
Laglio
Laglio is a miniscule commune located at the foot of Mount Colmegnone. Its town center consists of a church, a post office and two convenience shops (both were closed), one of which displayed an old calendar of George Clooney in its window. Life is pretty quiet in this steep, sprawling area with less than 1,000 […]
Cernobbio
Cernobbio is another gem on Lake Como. It only has around 7,000 residents, so if you’re driving too quickly you’ll miss it. It’s worth stopping to see the small town center, church and the extravagant villas along the lake. The villas are left over from when Lombard nobility flocked here in the summer. Many of […]
Bellagio
My first glimpse of Bellagio was from the ideal approach: head-on, from the deck of the ferry from Cadenabbia, the village across the lake. It was love at first sight! The center of Bellagio, the Borgo, is full of brightly colored buildings, steep cobbled staircases, narrow stone lanes, delectable patisseries and sprawling gardens. Bellagio’s total […]
Lago di Como, or Lake Como
My new life goal is to figure out how to afford enough time to explore every rustic town, historic villa and wooded mountainside on majestic Lake Como. Amazingly, every section is picture-perfect. Lake Como is the least-developed, least-visited of the Lombard lakes. It is sprawling, shaped like an inverted Y. It measures about 160 km […]
