Located 20 metres above sea level on the southwest tip of the Lake of the same name, Como is 5 km from the Ponte Chiasso border between Italy and Switzerland.
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It was a Gaul settlement, becoming a Roman colony (1st century BC.) with the name of Novum Comum: its present urban structure still follows the outline of the ancient castrum. After the Barbarian invasions it became a free municipality, often at war with, and destroyed by, Milan in 1127. It then shared the vicissitudes of the Lombard capital, that is, the Signorie, Spanish and Austrian rule, the Cisalpine Republic and the unification of Italy.
