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Recent Posts
- Federico Frigerio: The Face of Como October 14, 2025
- Como’s Twin-Tailed Mermaids June 23, 2025
- Beyond the City Walls: Via Milano May 21, 2025
- Garibaldi, the Battle of San Fermo and his Como Bride April 23, 2025
- Lake Como and the Grand Tour March 21, 2025
Category Archives: History
Federico Frigerio: The Face of Como
There is one architect in particular we should credit for influencing the way Como looks today. He is Federico Frigerio (1873-1959). He worked incessantly from 1897 until 1945 producing or renovating many of the most significant buildings in the city’s historical centre. Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art, Culture, History, Itineraries, People, Places of interest, Uncategorized
Tagged europe, italy, travel
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Como’s Twin-Tailed Mermaids
The Melusina – a twin-tailed mermaid – can be seen in a variety of locations around Como. We explore the myth of the Melusina and why her symbol adorns both religious and secular buildings in the city. Continue reading
Garibaldi, the Battle of San Fermo and his Como Bride
Garibaldi’s second marriage, ten years after the death of his beloved Anita, lasted just one day – and provoked a scandal that divided Como’s aristocratic families. This is the story of the fate of Giuseppina Raimondi. Continue reading
Posted in Events, History, People, Places of interest, Uncategorized
Tagged Birago, Cacciatori delle Alpi, Caroli, Garibaldi, Giuseppina, Raimondi, Risorgimento, romance, Rovelli, san fermo, villas
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Lake Como and the Grand Tour
The launch of the Romantic movement at the start of the nineteenth century caused many literary and artistic travellers to include Como and its lake in their Grand Tour of Italy. A collection of excerpts from these accounts has recently been published and forms the inspiration for this article. Continue reading
Moltrasio’s stone and its ‘Ecomuseo’
Moltrasio stone was the dominant building material used in and around Como from Roman days until the turn of the twentieth century. It is found at the heart of most buildings even if some may have then be adorned with a veneer of render or a dressing of Musso and Varenna marble. Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Culture, History, Lake, Places of interest, Sustainability, Walks
Tagged Careno, country crafts, dry stone walls, ecomuseo, marble, Moltrasio, proloco, Quarries, stone, Sustainability, tourism
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Escaping the Holocaust: Hiding from Home in Varese
Personal testimonies can help us understand the reality of living through historical events. These diary extracts convey some sense of the constant anxiety in avoiding deportation to a Nazi death camp. Continue reading
Posted in crime, History, People, Uncategorized
Tagged Auschwitz, cernobbio, Como, De Danonis, Fargion, germany, History, holocaust, Italian Jews, jews, nazifascists, Race Laws, Shoah, Varese, Wartime
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Lake Pusiano, Cypresses and Wallabies
A gulp of cormorants, a creep of tortoises and a troupe pf wallabies – the varying fortunes of the magical Isola dei Cipressi on Lake Pusiano. Continue reading
Posted in Gardens, History, Lake, Places of interest, rowing, wildlife
Tagged Brianza, Como, cormorants, Eugene Beauharnais, fish, italy, Lake Pusiano, nature, Palazzo Carpani, Resegone, tortoises, travel, wallabies
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The Como Companion 