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History of Como
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According to documented records, inhabitants
of prehistoric times were located around the current location of
Como, at least since the Bronze Age.
Remains of settlements are still present on
the wood covered hills to the south west of town. The people
that inhabited these settlements were known as the Orobii, a
Celtic tribe.
Como developed during the Roman Empire to be
the capital of a territory bordering with Milan and Bergamo. The
newly founded town was named Novum Comum and had the status of
municipium.
The remains of a Roman city, where for sure
there were a stadium, gym, public baths and a theatre can still
be spotted in modern Como today, like eight greenish striped
Roman limestone columns in the portico of the Volta Liceum,
various bits of the old city walls, and the remains of the Porta
Praetoria.
With the invasion of the Franks led by
Charlemagne, Como became a center of commercial exchange.
Consequently, it shared the vicissitudes of the surrounding
region. In the X century the Bishops of Como were also its
temporal lords and in the XI century the city became a free
commune.
In 1127 the city lost the decade-long war
against the nearby town of Milan but with the help of Frederick
Barbarossa, the city could avenge the defeat when Milan was
destroyed in 1162.
Frederick promoted the construction of
several defensive towers around the city limits, of which only
one remains, the Baradello.
Then followed the rule of the Rusca family,
in1355, which freely ceded the town to the Visconti. From there
on the history of Como followed that of the Ducato di Milano.
It followed the French invasion, then the
Spanish domination until 1900, when the territory was finally
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 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.
The role of the Partisans was very important
for the end of the WWII. Here on its escape towards Switzerland,
Mussolini was taken prisoner and then shot by the Comaschi
partisans in Giulino di Mezzegra, a small town on the north
shores of Como Lake.
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