The silk city on the shore of the lake
At the southern tip of the western branch of Lake Como, the city of Como combines a lakeside setting with a compact historic centre still enclosed by medieval walls. It was a Roman town, Novum Comum, the birthplace of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, and later a rival of Milan. Since the sixteenth century it has been the European capital of silk: its firms still produce fabrics for the great fashion houses, and the Silk Museum tells the story.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, built between 1396 and 1770, blends late Gothic and Renaissance in a white marble façade decorated with statues, including those of the two Plinys, and is crowned by a dome by Filippo Juvarra. Next to it stand the striped Broletto, the medieval town hall, and the Romanesque basilicas of Sant'Abbondio and San Fedele. Along the lake, the Tempio Voltiano is dedicated to Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the electric battery, born in Como, and the lakefront promenade leads to Villa Olmo, a neoclassical villa with gardens.
Tip: from the jetty in Piazza Cavour boats leave for all the villages of the lake; the Life Electric monument by Daniel Libeskind stands at the end of the pier.
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