Como, capital of the province of the same name, some 50km/31mi north of Milan, lies at the southern end of Lake Como, surrounded by rocky hills, which are partly forest-covered. Como is an important center of the silk industry.
Como was founded by the Romans in 1
95 B.C., on the site of an earlier settlement, as the frontier fortress of Comum, directed against the Rhaetians. During the Middle Ages the town - which in 1058 had the status of an episcopal see independent of Milan - was the key to Lombardy and an important base of the German emperors. In 1451 it passed to the control of Milan. In recent years considerable subsidence has been noted.
The town's life centers on the Piazza Cavour, by the harbor, from which the short Via Plinio runs southeast to the Piazza del Duomo. On the east side of this square is the Broletto (1215), formerly a lawcourt, now a banqueting hall.
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