Audio Guide: Como Introduction Walking Tour (Self Guided), Como

The Roman writer Pliny the Younger once wrote to his friend, “What is the news from Como, mine and your delight?” Como is a place of palaces, churches, gardens, temples, museums, and parks. Its nearness to the spectacular Lake Como and the Swiss and Italian Alps has made the area a traveler’s delight from the time of Pliny the Younger to the present day.

Pliny wasn’t its first fan, though. Long before Rome conquered the region, Celtic tribes had already settled along the lakeshore. Then came Julius Caesar in 59 BC. He drained swamps, laid out a Roman grid, and built walls-fragments of which still outline the old town today. The new settlement was called "New Comum", a name that eventually evolved into today’s Como.

History, of course, had no intention of leaving Como in peace. After Rome’s fall, the Lombards-and later the Carolingians-claimed it in turn, until the latter added it to their collection in 774. The Middle Ages were anything but quiet, as Como's status as a free commune interfered with the territorial and political ambitions of its bigger neighbor, Milan. Ultimately, the tension culminated in 1127 with the destruction of Como's fortifications, after a decade-long siege. Under Milan's influential Visconti family, the lakeside city blossomed economically, especially in silk production.

After Milan's influence waned, new rulers arrived in succession beginning in the 16th century: French invaders, Spanish governors, Austrian administrators, and, finally, Napoleon. By 1859, Garibaldi’s campaign had stitched Como into a unified Italy. The dictator Benito Mussolini had his day here, too-he was executed by partisans after passing through Como in 1945.

Through this long parade of empires and upheavals, certain landmarks anchored the city’s identity. Chief among them is the Cathedral-started in 1457 and finished in the 18th century-a blend of Gothic spires and Renaissance façades. Its face proudly adorns the image of Como’s famous sons, Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, as if to remind visitors that there is a famous family reunion to behold.

And then there’s the funicular, a latecomer to the narrative but no less symbolic. Since 1894, it has carried locals and visitors from Como’s industrious streets to Brunate, the so-called “Balcony of the Alps,” where the lake spreads out like a silver map below.

So walk the streets-and don’t forget to write your friends about this lakeside delight, just like Pliny did. Como has always had plenty to write about.