Architecture

Broletto

A bell rings over medieval Como, citizens converge on the square, and civic power plants itself between cathedral and bishop’s palace. Then factional conflict brings fire—and the expanding cathedral claims part of what survives.

Address: Piazza Duomo 2, Como
Area: Como, Italy

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Why it is worth the detour

Como’s medieval town hall was deliberately placed between the cathedral and the bishop’s palace, with a bell calling citizens to public assemblies. Political violence and the cathedral’s expansion later left the building burned, shortened, and missing its external staircase.

The Broletto is Como's medieval town hall, strategically located between the cathedral and the bishop’s palace. It served as a venue for democratic assemblies and has a rich history marked by political events and architectural changes.

What else is close by

The nearest places we have written up, with straight-line distance from here.

50 m
Como Cathedral
No battery, no grand experiment: according to local tradition, the elderly Alessandro Volta came here for Mass each day. Inside, a floor plaque marks the place associated with that quiet routine.
50 m
Church of San Giacomo
The Vittani and Rusconi are fighting, and San Giacomo’s porch takes the blow. Then decay and remodeling do what the feud could not: turn a vast Romanesque church into the compact fragment in front of you.
100 m
Torre Pantera
In medieval Como, a clan’s tower could be forcibly shortened. In 1292, that happened to the Rusconi tower beneath Torre Pantera.
150 m
Church of San Provino
September 22, 1794: Alessandro Volta, a scientific celebrity at home in Europe’s salons, came to this small church to marry Teresa Peregrini. The setting was strikingly understated; the bride, his letters make clear, was anything but a footnote.
150 m
Teatro Sociale
It is 1944. Milan’s La Scala has been damaged in the war, and Como’s former cinema is handed an extraordinary role: alternative opera house.
150 m
Piazza Cavour and the Exhibition That Rose Twice
On July 8, 1899, smoke and flames tore through Como’s grand celebration of electricity. The cause was a short circuit—a grim irony followed by a remarkably fast comeback.