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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
Lake Como and Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa’
Experts now claim that Leonardo Da Vinci set two of his best known paintings amongst the landmarks on Lake Como’s eastern leg by identifying the landscape depicted in the background of the ‘Mona Lisa’ and his ‘Virgin of the Rocks’. Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, History, Itineraries, Lake, People, Uncategorized
Tagged Adda, Art, Azzone Visconti, canals, Como, Garlate, History, Le Grigne, lecco, Leonardo, leonardo-da-vinci, Mandello, milan, mona-lisa, Paris, Resegone, Vaprio D'Adda
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Fatal Accident on Lake Como: The Soldiers’ Story
“I can’t stand this any longer” – the final cry of a British Army Officer who drowned along with Mussolini’s daughter-in-law on Lake Como, May 1946. Continue reading
Posted in Events, History, Lake, People, Uncategorized
Tagged blevio, Como, drowning, Excelsior, Gina Ruberti, History, Hotel Vapore, Imperiale, italy, Lake Como, Mandarin Oriental, Medloc, medloc feeder, post war, Roccabruna, tragedy
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Como’s Nostalgia For…..Wash Houses
The wash house (Lavatoio in Italian) is a common architectural feature across Italy and no less so in the mountain communities around Lake Como. Technological and social changes have rendered them almost entirely redundant yet many still remain and a significant number have even been renovated and restored. Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Culture, Folklore, History, Lake, Places of interest, Uncategorized
Tagged cleaning, Como, Food, Lake Como, laundry, lavandaia, lavatoio, nature, nostalgia, travel, wash house
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Como and Henry’s ‘Turbulent Priest’
Thomas a Becket was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry II of England in 1162 and then executed on his orders in 1170. His martyrdom and beatification gave birth to a cult celebrated across Europe including here in Como. Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, History, People, Places of interest, Uncategorized
Tagged Basilica, england, Henry II, History, Monreale, Palermo, relics, reliquary, San Giorgio, Sicily, Thomas Becket, travel
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Como to Auschwitz on Convoy 8
Convoy 8 to Auschwitz. The story of a diverse group all arrested in Como over December 1943 but from different backgrounds forced on the same journey and to share the same fate due to their shared ethnicity. The enormity of where racism can lead us must surely never be forgotten. Continue reading
Posted in crime, History, Uncategorized
Tagged Auschwitz, Brunate, Convoy, Fossoli, History, holocaust, jews, Memorial Day, Olgiate, Questura, RSI, Shoah, SS, world-war-ii
6 Comments
Lake Como in Fiction
Some suggested holiday reading with Lake Como used as the backdrop for holiday romance, crime and historical drama – how is our lake depicted? Continue reading
Posted in crime, Culture, History, Lake, Uncategorized
Tagged book-review, book-reviews, books, Como, fiction, holiday reading, Lake Como, landscape, novels, writing
7 Comments
Wartime Occupation of Cernobbio
This article reports the results of recent research undertaken at Cernobbio’s Archivio Storico into the extent of the Nazi occupation of Cernobbio from September 1943 until the end of the war in April 1945. Continue reading
Posted in crime, History
Tagged Carminati, Celio, Commisariato Alloggi, Egeli, Joseph Voetterl, Joseph Votterl, Porta, Prefect, requistion, Scassellati, sequester, villa d'este, villa erba, Von Horstig
5 Comments
The Como Companion 