Explorer Côme

Como Cathedral was built in stages from 1396 until the 18th century, when its dome was completed, and combines Gothic and Renaissance forms in marble. The facade carries statues of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, both born in Como; inside hang 16th- and 17th-century tapestries and paintings by Bernardino Luini and Gaudenzio Ferrari.

The Basilica of Sant'Abbondio is a Romanesque church just south of Como's old town, built by Benedictine monks in the 11th century and consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1095. It has two slender bell towers, and its apse is covered with a 14th-century fresco cycle of the life of Christ. The adjoining monastery now houses part of the University of Insubria.