Category Archives: People

Federico Frigerio: The Face of Como

Posted on October 14, 2025 by comocompanion

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 | 2 Comments

Garibaldi, the Battle of San Fermo and his Como Bride

Posted on April 23, 2025 by comocompanion

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 | Leave a comment

Escaping the Holocaust: Hiding from Home in Varese

Posted on January 29, 2025 by comocompanion

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 | 2 Comments

Como’s Hidden Gems – Palazzo Rusca, Palazzo Olginati Rovelli and Palazzo Vietti Rovelli

Posted on November 20, 2024 by comocompanion

Como has many hidden artistic gems. Here we uncover what is to be found in the Palazzo Rusca, Palazzzo Viettti Rovelli and Palazzo Olginati Rovelli. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Culture, History, People, Places of interest, Uncategorized | Tagged Art, baroque, Como, Culture, drawing, Frescoes, Garibaldi, Lake Como, Odescalchi, Olginati, painting, Pietro Bianchi, Plague, poetry, rococo, Rovelli, Rusca, writing | 2 Comments

Lake Como and Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa’

Posted on October 5, 2024 by comocompanion

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 | Leave a comment

Fatal Accident on Lake Como: The Soldiers’ Story

Posted on September 11, 2024 by comocompanion

“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 | 3 Comments

Lake Como’s Prizewinning Olive Oil

Posted on August 16, 2024 by comocompanion

Overlooking the town of Lenno at 385 metres above sea level, a small holding of twenty acres has consistently produced an olive oil that has won world class prizes – it is the Azienda Agricola Roveglio. Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Lake, People, Uncategorized | Tagged agriculture, Azienda Agricola, Cheese, Como, Frantoio, Lenno, Olive fruit fly, Olive knot disease, olive oil, rentals, Rogna | Leave a comment

An American in Venice (via Como)

Posted on May 7, 2024 by comocompanion

On April 18th Sonja Christoph and husband Alessandro left Como to travel by train to Venice for the day. This was just one of the many, and one of the shortest of journeys undertaken by Sonja in her moves from her native Florida USA to Como via Heidelberg, Munich and London. But perhaps, for all that, this was one of the more personally significant journeys taken until now – she was delivering her artwork entitled ‘Frames of Reference’ for display in the Venetian Biennale. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Culture, Events, People, Uncategorized | Tagged Art, Biennale, Cameroon, Como, Culture, illustration, migrants, storytelling, Venice | Leave a comment

Como and Henry’s ‘Turbulent Priest’

Posted on February 28, 2024 by comocompanion

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 | Leave a comment

Twenty English Artists on Lake Como

Posted on November 11, 2023 by comocompanion

Twenty English Artists on Lake Como is the name of the exhibition running from the 13th to 17th November in London featuring all of the output from the art project set up to raise funds for the preservation of the Anglican Church in Cadenabbia. Continue reading →