Located on the southern strip of the West side of the Lake Como, in a small basin, Como was inhabited since the Prehistoric period; it became a Roman fortified colony in 89 b.C..
The historic centre is set inside the ancient city walls and it's characterised by XVIII century neoclassical buildings and houses.
From a historic and artistic point of view, the city has an architectural vocation: the nacient walls, realized between 1159 and 1175, the Basilica di Sant'Abbondio of Lombardic Romanesque architecture, built between 1050 and 1085 on the early-christian church of the Saintest Apostles. The Duomo, built on the ancient Romanesque basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, is the result of more than four centuries of working, started in 1396 and finished in 1740 when Filippo Juvarra completed the dome.
Il Broletto, the ancient Town Hall during the Middle Age, was built in 1215 and modified according to the gothic-renaissance taste in 1477.
Castel Baradello (Baradello Castle) is a powerful structure risen in a dominant position on the city of Como and its Lake.