Category Archives: Architecture

Como’s City Walls

Posted on March 29, 2022 by comocompanion

Como has a lot of ‘history’ and the city’s walls provide visible evidence of the fact. They survive to this day due to the strategic location of the city and its desire to enforce customs duties on all goods passing through its gates. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Gardens, History, Places of interest, Uncategorized | Tagged Baradello, Castello della Torre Rotonda, Cittadella Viscontea, Como, Federico Barbarossa, Ghibellines, Guelphs, Hanging Gardens, History, Medieval Walls, Moltrasio stone, Porta Nuova, Porta Pretoria, Porta Torre, Roman remains, Roman Walls, Rusca, Teatro Sociale, Visconti, Vittani | 3 Comments

Como: The Potential for Cultural Tourism

Posted on June 23, 2021 by comocompanion

Como and Cultural Tourism – a sustainable form of tourism with the potential of increasing the length of visitor stays – for the benefit of tourists and residents alike. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, Culture, Itineraries, Places of interest, Uncategorized | Tagged Como, cultural tourism, Culture, iubilantes, monumenti aperti, poets way, tourism, Villa Olmo | Leave a comment

Ossuccio to Lenno: Up and Down the Perlana Valley

Posted on February 25, 2020 by comocompanion

Ossuccio to Lenno: Up and Down the Perlana Valley. This walk includes the Sacro Monte di Ossuccio, the Sanctuary to the Blessed Virgin of Succour, the San Benedetto monastery at the head of the valley and the Abbey of Acquafredda. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Culture, Itineraries, Uncategorized, Walks | Tagged Acquafredda, Helliborus, Madonna del Soccorso, Ossuccio, sacro monte, San Benedetto, Val Perlana, Walks | Leave a comment

Campo Urbano – Public Art in Como 1969

Posted on October 14, 2019 by comocompanion

Campo Urbano – Public Art in Como 1969. How the generation of Como artists following on from the Astrattisti Comaschi continued to place Como in the vanguard of artistic developments. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, Culture, Events, History, People, Uncategorized | Tagged abstractism, agitprop, Art, Campo Urbano, Casa Bini, Cinque Giornate, Francesco Somaini, Giuliano Collina, Ico Parisi, MAC, mario radice, Movimento Arte Concreta, public art, sculpture, Street art, Ugo La Pietra | Leave a comment

Como’s Secret Gardens

Posted on August 23, 2019 by comocompanion

Como’s Secret Gardens. On 21st and 22nd September, those in Como can, for the price of €8, visit a whole series of secret gardens and courtyards within the old city walls. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, Culture, Events, Gardens, Itineraries, Places of interest, Uncategorized | Tagged Alessandro Volta, Carlo Carloni, Collegio Gallio, Conservatorio, ester negretti, Frescoes, Gardens, iubilantes, mantero, Palazzo Lambertenghi, Recchi, Via Volta | Leave a comment

Stucco and Scagliola – Two of Como’s Baroque Specialities

Posted on August 9, 2019 by comocompanion

Back at the start of the 17th Century, a new technique was developed in Northern Italy to create fake marble marquetry. This was called scagliola. It was a complimentary extension of the skills of the stucco masters – and the artists and craftsmen from the Province of Como’s Val D’Intelvi excelled in its execution, working on palaces and churches across Italy and Mid or eastern Catholic Europe. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, Culture, History, People, Uncategorized | Tagged Art, baroque, Carloni, Castiglione, churches, counterreformation, Intelvi Valley, Lanzo, paliotto, rococo, S.Sisinnio, Santa Anna, scagliola, Scaria, stucco, val d'intelvi | 1 Comment

Tourism on Lake Como – Then and Now

Posted on July 16, 2019 by comocompanion

Tourism on Lake Como – Then and Now. A look at current levels of tourism and its growth on Lake Como from Pliny, Stendhal to the Clooneys. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, Culture, History, Lake, People, Uncategorized | Tagged aristocrats, Art, environment, Giovio, Grand Tour, History, ISTAT, lombardy, Mary Shelley, nature, pliny, Shelley, sublime, tourism, tourists, Ugo Foscolo, villas, Volta | 7 Comments

Como’s Pope and other Odescalchi

Posted on July 6, 2019 by comocompanion

Como’s Pope and other Odescalchi. Florence has the Medici, Mantua the Gonzagas, Milan has the Visconti who merged through marriage with the Sforzas. Como for its part has the Odescalchi, Raimondi, Lambertenghi etc etc. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Culture, History, People, Places of interest, Uncategorized | Tagged Alzate Brianza, aristocrats, Castello, Como, heraldry, History, Innocent XI, Innocenzo XI, nobility, Odescalchi, Pope, property auction, religion, Rome, stemme | Leave a comment

Palanzo on Show: A Pilgrimage to Serenity

Posted on June 13, 2019 by comocompanion

Palanzo in Mostra (Palanzo on Show) includes events and exhibitions from now to 29th
June which celebrate the town’s unique virtues. Palanzo and its neighbouring towns in Faggeto Lario are all undoubtedly very special. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, Culture, Events, Itineraries, Lake, Places of interest, Uncategorized | Tagged Art, Faggeto Lario, Lake Como, Monte Palanzone, Palanzo, terracing, Torchio, wine press | Leave a comment

Villa Platamone – An ‘Aristocratic’ Bed and Breakfast

Posted on May 15, 2019 by comocompanion

Villa Platamone – An ‘Aristocratic’ Bed and Breakfast. The holiday lodge built in the 1820s for Michele Platamone in Como has now been restored to former glory and opened today for the first time to paying guests. Continue reading →