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Como: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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Julius Caesar settled colonists here around 59 BC and laid the town out on the flat ground by the lake, and the grid of his Novum Comum still shapes the streets inside the walls. The walls themselves are medieval, built after Como lost a ten-year war to Milan in the twelfth century. This walk crosses the old town from the main gate to the cathedral and ends at a church older than all of it. About two hours, all on foot and all flat; the centre is a limited-traffic zone, so leave the car outside.

Como

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A short history of Como

Como sits at the southern end of Lake Como. In 59 BC Julius Caesar settled thousands of colonists here and named it Novum Comum, and the two Plinys, the naturalist Pliny the Elder and his nephew Pliny the Younger, were born here. In 1127 Milan destroyed the town after a ten-year war, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa helped to rebuild it. Work on the cathedral began in 1396 and went on for almost four hundred years. In 1745 Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery, was born in the city. In the 19th century Como became the centre of Europe's silk industry, and on 28 April 1945 Mussolini was executed in a village on the lakeshore after being caught trying to escape.

The ten best sights in Como

  1. Como Cathedral
    1
    Como Cathedral

    Look either side of the main door: the two seated statues are Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, both sons of Como

  2. Tempio Voltiano
    2
    Tempio Voltiano

    A small round museum on the water for Alessandro Volta and his batteries; half an hour is enough

  3. Basilica of Sant'Abbondio
    3
    Basilica of Sant'Abbondio

    Twin Romanesque bell towers and a frescoed apse, a short walk south of the walls; usually quiet

  4. Basilica of San Fedele
    4
    Basilica of San Fedele

    Romanesque church on the old market square inside the walls; step round the back to see the apse

  5. Casa del Fascio
    5
    Casa del Fascio

    Terragni's white box behind the cathedral, a set piece of modern architecture; seen from outside only

  6. Silk Museum
    6
    Silk Museum

    Looms, dye recipes and printing blocks from the industry that made Como rich; a short walk outside the walls

  7. Pinacoteca Civica
    7
    Pinacoteca Civica

    Medieval stone carving downstairs and Como's abstract painters of the 1930s upstairs

  8. Villa Olmo
    8
    Villa Olmo

    The park is free and runs down to the water; the villa itself opens for exhibitions

  9. War Memorial
    9
    War Memorial

    A concrete tower on the lakefront designed from a futurist's sketch; worth the two minutes on the way to Villa Olmo

  10. Como–Brunate Funicular
    10
    Como–Brunate Funicular

    Seven minutes up to Brunate and a view down the whole first basin of the lake; queues at weekends

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Tours in Como →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Como:

Inside the walls

Free walking tours in Como

Inside the walls

Julius Caesar settled colonists here around 59 BC and laid the town out on the flat ground by the lake, and the grid of his Novum Comum still shapes the streets inside the walls. The walls themselves are medieval, built after Como lost a ten-year war to Milan in the twelfth century. This walk crosses the old town from the main gate to the cathedral and ends at a church older than all of it. About two hours, all on foot and all flat; the centre is a limited-traffic zone, so leave the car outside.

  1. Porta Torre · The main gate of the walls, built in 1192 and facing the road to Milan, rises about 40 metres. On the town side it opens in tiers of tall arches, and it is the tallest piece of the medieval walls still standing.
  2. Basilica of San Fedele · The east end is built as a trefoil, three rounded apses opening off the crossing like the leaves of a clover, a plan rare in Lombardy. The square in front was the town's grain market, which is why it is still lined with old timber-framed houses.
  3. Broletto · The old town hall, built in 1215, with a loggia below and a façade striped in white, grey and red stone. When the cathedral was enlarged in the fifteenth century, part of the Broletto was simply cut off to make room for it.
  4. Como Cathedral · Building went on from 1396 to 1770, which is why a Gothic façade ends in a Baroque dome by Filippo Juvarra. The two Plinys sit on the façade, a rare honour for pagans on a church, because both were born in Como.
  5. Museo Archeologico Paolo Giovio · The museum is in the family palace of Paolo Giovio, the sixteenth-century historian who built a villa on the lake to hold his portraits of famous men and called it the Musaeum. It is one of the first times the word was used for a collection on show.
  6. Basilica of Sant'Abbondio · Pope Urban II consecrated the church in 1095, the same year he called the First Crusade. It stands on the site of an early Christian church where the first bishops of Como were buried, and the old monastery beside it now belongs to the university.

Volta, silk and concrete

Como gave the world the electric battery, and between the wars it gave Italy its boldest modern buildings. Alessandro Volta was born here in 1745, and the town has spent a century building monuments to him; a few streets away, the young architect Giuseppe Terragni built in white concrete and glass when the rest of the country was building in marble. The route runs along the western lakefront and ends at the silk school. Half a day on foot, flat; the Tempio Voltiano closes on Mondays.

  1. Tempio Voltiano · Built in 1927 for the centenary of Volta's death. Many of his own instruments are replicas, because the originals were lost when an exhibition for him in Como caught fire in 1899.
  2. The Life Electric · Daniel Libeskind designed the sculpture in 2015 in homage to Volta: two curved steel blades that can be read as the two poles of a battery. It stands at the end of the breakwater, and from there the whole town is seen from the water side.
  3. War Memorial · The design comes from a sketch by Antonio Sant'Elia, the futurist architect from Como who was killed in battle in 1916 at the age of 28. Giuseppe Terragni turned the drawing into this tower, inaugurated in 1933 for the town's dead of the First World War.
  4. Casa del Fascio · Terragni built it in 1932–36 as the local Fascist party headquarters, on a square plan exactly twice as wide as it is high — half a cube. The glass doors at the front were designed to open all at once, so that the square and the hall became one space.
  5. Villa Olmo · The villa was built from 1797 for the Odescalchi family, and takes its name from a great elm, olmo, that stood on the site. Its lawn runs straight into the lake, and the town swims from the lido next door in summer.
  6. Silk Museum · It is housed in the building of the Setificio, the technical school of silk founded in 1869, and was set up by people from the trade. Como no longer raises silkworms, but its firms still weave and print silk for the big fashion houses.

Over the hills to the border

Como sits in a bowl: the lake on one side, steep hills on the other three, and Switzerland five kilometres away. The first Comum was a hill town of the Celts, and the Romans brought it down to the water; this route goes back up, by funicular on one side and on foot on the other, then crosses the border by car. Brunate is a morning; the Swiss part is an afternoon, and needs the Swiss motorway vignette if you use the motorway. Take passports, and good shoes for the castle.

  1. Como–Brunate Funicular · The line opened in 1894 and climbs about 500 metres in a little over a kilometre of track. It ran on steam power until it was electrified in 1911, and it is still the quickest way out of the summer heat of the town.
  2. Faro Voltiano · A lighthouse put up in 1927, for the centenary of Volta's death, on a summit some 900 metres above sea level. Its beam shines at night in the green, white and red of the Italian flag, and on a clear day the view from the top reaches Monte Rosa.
  3. Castello del Baradello · Frederick Barbarossa rebuilt the castle in the 1150s after Como sided with him against Milan. More than a century later, Napo della Torre, the defeated lord of Milan, was locked in a cage here by the Visconti, and he died in it in 1278.
  4. Parco Regionale Spina Verde · The wooded ridge behind the castle is where the Celtic town stood before the Romans moved it down to the plain, and digs here have found houses and graves of the Golasecca culture. The park runs right up to the Swiss border.
  5. Campione d'Italia · A piece of Italy surrounded on every side by Switzerland and Lake Lugano, with no land border to the rest of the country. Its people paid in Swiss francs and the town sat inside the Swiss customs area until 2020, when it was moved into the EU's.
  6. Lugano · The largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, with arcaded streets that run down to its own lake. Hermann Hesse lived in Montagnola, on the hill above it, from 1919 until his death in 1962, and finished Siddhartha there.
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Getting to Como and getting around

  • Milan Malpensa Airport · Flights from Tel Aviv to Milan land here or at Bergamo; Malpensa is about 50 minutes from Como by car
  • Como San Giovanni · The main-line station, for Milano Centrale and the line into Switzerland; it sits above town, ten minutes' walk down to the lake
  • Como Nord Lago · The other railway, to Milano Cadorna, stops right on the lakefront next to the ferry piers — easier if you are on foot

Cheap eats in Como

Lake Como eats fish from the lake: perch fillets fried in butter and sage and laid on a risotto, and missoltini, small shad salted and dried in the sun, then grilled and eaten with polenta. On the hills above, polenta comes as polenta uncia, swimming in butter and melted cheese. For a quick lunch, a bar with a counter of panini or a slice of focaccia is the Italian answer, and coffee at the bar costs about half what it does at a table.

  • L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele · Neapolitan pizza a few steps from the ferries, about 8-12 euros
  • Panino Buono · Filled panini to take to the lakefront, about 6-9 euros
  • La Svolta Piadineria · Piadina, the folded flatbread of Romagna, about 6-8 euros
  • Focacceria Panificio · Focaccia by the slice from a bakery counter, about 2-4 euros
  • Pasticceria Aida · Brioche and cappuccino standing at the bar, about 3 euros
  • da Pietro Cafeteria Gelateria · Gelato off the cathedral square, a cup about 3-4 euros
  • La Polenteria · Polenta dishes up in Brunate, by the lighthouse path, about 12-16 euros

Museums in Como

  • Tempio Voltiano · Volta's instruments in a round temple on the water; closed Mondays
  • Silk Museum · Looms, dyes and printing blocks; an hour
  • Pinacoteca Civica · Romanesque carvings and the Como abstract painters
  • Museo Archeologico Paolo Giovio · Roman Comum and the Celtic finds from the hills
  • Villa Olmo · Check what is on: the villa opens for big exhibitions

Nature and day trips near Como

  • Parco Regionale Spina Verde · Woodland paths behind the castle; good shoes
  • Faro Voltiano · Twenty minutes' walk from the funicular top
  • Passeggiata Lino Gelpi · Flat lakeside walk past the villas
  • Giardini pubblici a Lago · Benches and shade around the Tempio Voltiano
  • Parco di Villa Olmo · A free lawn on the water for a picnic

Things to do in Como with kids

  • Como–Brunate Funicular · Stand at the front for the view; seven minutes
  • Lido di Villa Olmo · Pools and a lake beach in summer
  • Castello del Baradello · A real castle tower to climb; steep path
  • The Life Electric · Walk to the end of the breakwater to watch the seaplanes
  • Aero Club Como · Seaplanes take off from the lake right in front of town

Where to eat in Como

  • Osteria Brillo · An osteria inside the walls; book at weekends
  • Osteria Casa 28 · Small and central, a short walk from the cathedral
  • La Tua Osteria · Lombard home cooking at the east end of the old town
  • Nenne' Trattoria · A trattoria by the funicular, handy after Brunate
  • Ristorante Imbarcadero · Tables on Piazza Cavour facing the lake
  • Enoteca Fuori dal Comune · A glass of Valtellina red before dinner
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Frequently asked questions about Como

What is there to see in Como?

The top sights in Como are Como Cathedral, Tempio Voltiano and Basilica of Sant'Abbondio. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Como?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Como without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Como?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Como, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Inside the walls.

How do you get to Como and get around?

The main ways are Milan Malpensa Airport, Como San Giovanni and Como Nord Lago. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Como, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Como that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

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