Tag Archives: History

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

Lake Como’s Star Crossed Lovers: 1) Osvaldo and Louisa

Posted on May 14, 2020 by comocompanion

Lake Como’s Star Crossed Lovers: 1) Osvaldo and Louisa – the story of two film stars from the fascist era. He was ‘addicted to morphine and she was addicted to him’ and this led to their tragic end on April 30th 1945. Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Events, History, People, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged Banda Koch, Cinecitta, cinema, cinevillaggio, Decima MAS, fascists, History, Junio Valerio Borghese, Lano D'Intelvi, Louisa Ferida, Marozin, Osvaldo Valenti, partisans, Pietro Koch, RSI, Smuggling, telefoni bianchi, Vega, Villa Fossati, Villa Triste | Leave a comment

Lake Como’s Moltrasio Trunk Murder

Posted on November 7, 2019 by comocompanion

Lake Como’s Moltrasio Trunk Murder – a vintage crime of passion during a honeymoon that turned sour. Continue reading →

Posted in crime, History, People, Uncategorized | Tagged crime, History, Ispolatov, Mary Scott Castle, Metropole Suisse, Moltrasio, murder, Porter Charlton, Steamships, Transatlantic, Trunk Murder | Leave a 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 | 3 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

Murder on the Dance Floor- Italy’s Crime of the 20th Century on Lake Como

Posted on August 23, 2018 by comocompanion

Murder on the Dance Floor- Italy’s Crime of the 20th Century on Lake Como; a high society crime of passion at the Hotel Villa D’Este in Cernobbio. Continue reading →

Posted in History, Lake, People, Places of interest, Uncategorized | Tagged Bellentani, cernobbio, crime, high society, History, murder, villa d'este | 3 Comments

Through Conflict to Collaboration, Achille Grandi, Como and the Birth of the Republic

Posted on June 5, 2018 by comocompanion

Through Conflict to Collaboration, Achille Grandi, Como and the Birth of the Republic – in memory of the post-war anti-fascist alliance. Continue reading →

Posted in Events, History, People, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged Achille Grandi, Allen Dulles, Alpini, Anti-fascism, Azione Cattolica, Badoglio, Captain Ricci, CGIL, Christian Democrats, church, CIL, Gronchi, History, Leo XIII, Mussolini, PCI, Politics, PPI, PSI, Rerum Novarum, SIT, Sturzo, Togliatti | Leave a comment

Heroism and Disaster in the Vallassina – Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27th

Posted on January 24, 2018 by comocompanion

As a memorial to the millions of victims of the Holocaust I would like to recall the act of a young priest in Sormano who guided a party of 16 Jewish refugees to safety in Switzerland and set an altruistic example to his parishioners. Continue reading →

Posted in History, People, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged church, Don Carlo Banfi, History, Holocaust victims, Muro di Sormano, Nesso, Pian del Tivano, resistance, Schuster, Sormano, Valassina, Vallasina | 3 Comments

Como Companion Tries Out a Social Media Strategy

Posted on December 15, 2017 by comocompanion

Como Companion explains the purpose of its Facebook page and Instagram Continue reading →

Posted in Events, Lake, People, Uncategorized | Tagged Como, Culture, estermarianegretti, ex-pats, History, Mr. Savethewall, nature, slowfood, slowtourism, tourism | Leave a comment

From Out of the Swamp, Novum Comum – Roman Como

Posted on February 28, 2017 by comocompanion

Como is in origin a Roman city named Novum Comum and founded in 59 BCE by none other than Julius Caesar, the father of the Roman Empire. The Roman presence persisted from then on until the collapse of the western … Continue reading →