Como Old Town: Inside the Walls of the Città Murata

A Roman Grid Inside Medieval Walls

The Lombardia Beni Culturali heritage catalogue tells the story in a few steps. The Roman walls were pulled down by the Milanese at the end of the Ten Years' War, which ran from 1118 to 1127. In 1154 Como allied with Frederick Barbarossa and got his consent to rebuild, and from 1158 the emperor restored and strengthened the defences. These later became known as the Mura Federiciane. They followed the Roman line on a slightly wider perimeter, which is why the street plan inside still runs in straight, crossing lines.

The big towers on the south side, Porta Torre in the middle and the Porta Nuova tower to the west, belong to this phase. The catalogue says Porta Torre was complete by 1192. In 1284 and 1285 a castle, the Castello della Torre Rotonda, was built across the east side and Porta San Vitale was opened. In the same period the circuit was extended down to the lake. The castle was demolished in the 19th century.

From Fortress to Pedestrian Centre

The walls lost their military job in 1783, when the military treasury sold them to the Comune, which sold them on to private owners. The moat outside was filled and replaced by a tree-lined avenue, and the walls kept only a customs role.

The second big change came in the 1970s, when the city decided to make the historic centre pedestrian. The catalogue notes that the walls still enclose the centre on three sides. The fourth side is the lake. In practice this means the old town has hard edges. The walls mark the south, east and west, and the open squares and piers mark the north. If you lose your bearings, walk until you meet either the walls or the water.

The Squares

Five squares organise the old town, and each has a different use for a visitor.

• Piazza Duomo: the cathedral, the Broletto and the Broletto infopoint. The meeting point of the food walk
• Piazza San Fedele: the square in front of the Basilica of San Fedele, in the middle of the grid
• Piazza Verdi: the Teatro Sociale, a few streets from the cathedral
• Piazza Volta: at the lake end of the old town, inside the traffic zone and the start of the lakeside walk
• Piazza Cavour: the big square facing the lake, with the ferry piers and the tourist office at number 17

Italy's national tourism portal describes Piazza Cavour as a strictly pedestrian area with a green patch, flower beds and benches. It was once marshland and then a port, and it became a square after the basin was filled in. It once held a large fountain that was sold and now stands in New York.

The portal also warns that the square is covered by water during floods. Local press reports that the flood-barrier works along the lakefront have closed parts of the lakefront road in phases, and that Piazza Cavour still floods in heavy rain.

Como Cathedral

The cathedral was begun in 1396 on the site of the old bishop's palace and took three and a half centuries to finish. The heritage catalogue dates the façade to 1455-1486, largely the work of the Rodari workshop, and the dome by Filippo Juvarra to 1744. Inside, three Gothic naves open onto three Renaissance apses under a late Baroque dome.

The practical rule is simple. The nave is free on a set route: in through the Porta delle Virtù, along the right aisle, under the organ lofts and out through the Porta della Rana, the Frog Door. The ticket, $6.92 (€6), opens the transept, the wooden choir and the sacristies. Ticketed visits run Monday to Friday 10:30-17:30 and Saturday 10:45-16:30. The cathedral is closed to tourist visits on all Sundays and holy days of obligation, and a handful of other dates, listed on the cathedral page.

Tickets are sold online, where the date you pick does not bind your entry, or on paper at the Broletto next door. Full hours and the free route are on the Como Cathedral guide, and every ticket type is compared on the cathedral tickets page.

The Broletto and Its Infopoint

The Broletto adjoins the north side of the cathedral. The Comune says it has been the seat of Como's municipal institutions since the 13th century, a medieval building with later Gothic additions. Its main façade is striped in alternating bands of grey, white and red stone with Gothic three-light windows, and it now hosts civic exhibitions.

For a visitor it is also the most useful door on the square. The Info Point Broletto is on the ground floor, on Via Pretorio, open every day 09:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00, phone +39 031 304137. The cathedral's own ticket page gives shorter hours for paper ticket sales there, so buy early in the day. The Broletto guide has more on the building.

Teatro Sociale

The Teatro Sociale stands in Piazza Verdi, a short way from the cathedral. The Comune records that it opened on the evening of 28 August 1813, the same year Giuseppe Verdi was born, with Adriano in Siria and I pretendenti delusi on the first bill. It got electric light in 1899 for Alessandro Volta's centenary. In 1943, after La Scala in Milan was bombed, it hosted the La Scala company for a time.

Today it runs opera, prose, dance and concerts on more than 300 days a year. No official page read publishes a price for a daytime visit, so treat it as a theatre, not a museum. See the front from the square, and if you want the inside, check the programme and buy a seat. The guided city tour includes the Teatro Sociale from outside.

The south side of the walls is the one to walk. The heritage catalogue calls it the only complete side, and it still shows the sloped base at the foot of the wall. It runs from Torre Gattoni at the south-west corner to Torre San Vitale at the south-east corner, with Porta Torre in the middle.

Porta Torre is the gate tower facing Milan. It has a square base and stands about 40 metres high, and Italy's tourism portal says it has stood since 1192. From outside it looks closed and heavy. From the city side it opens up in four rows of arches, and a round-arched window once let people see the bell that warned the town of danger. The inside is not open to visitors and its internal floors are gone, so this is a sight you see from the street, free, at any hour.

At the south-east corner, Torre San Vitale is about 36 metres high and stands next to the Museo archeologico Paolo Giovio. At the south-west corner, Torre Gattoni is a pentagonal tower also called Torre Nuova. It takes its name from a 19th-century owner, the canon Giulio Cesare Gattoni, who had a physics laboratory there where Alessandro Volta studied the pile. The west side kept only traces of its gates, and the east side survives only in part.

• Porta Torre: about 40 metres, complete by 1192, seen from outside only
• Torre San Vitale: about 36 metres, south-east corner
• Torre Gattoni: pentagonal, south-west corner, linked to Volta's studies
• South side: the only complete stretch of the circuit

No official page read gives a length for the walls or a walking time around them, so this guide prints neither. The heights, the history of each gate and a map of the circuit are on the Como city walls and Porta Torre page.

Basilica of San Fedele

San Fedele stands on its own square in the middle of the grid. It is an active parish church, and the opening hours reported for it do not agree with each other across sources, so this page prints none. Go in the daytime outside Mass, and check the parish notice at the door.

The San Fedele guide covers the building.

Pinacoteca Civica in Palazzo Volpi

The civic art gallery occupies the 17th-century Palazzo Volpi at Via Diaz 84, on the south side of the old town. It opened in 1989 and shows painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages to modern art across three floors. It is one of the four venues of Como's civic museums. Hours are Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, last entry 17:30, closed on Mondays. A standard ticket is $6.92 (€6).

The Comune's page puts it 13 minutes on foot from either Como San Giovanni or Como Lago station, and says the gallery is step-free by ramp and lift except for one step in the Renaissance section. If you plan to see the Tempio Voltiano as well, the two-site Como Art Pass at $12.69 (€11) covers both, valid for 72 hours.

Museo Archeologico Paolo Giovio

The archaeological museum sits beside Torre San Vitale. The Comune says its exhibition halls are closed to the public for maintenance, with no reopening date. Do not build a visit around it.

Just Outside the Walls

Two buildings people look for are close but not inside the walled centre. The former Casa del Fascio stands on Piazza del Popolo, and the Casa del Fascio page explains how it can be seen. The Silk Museum is further out, beyond the walls, and has its own hours and tickets on the Silk Museum guide.

Neither belongs to a walk of the old town itself, so give each its own slot.

The ZTL: Do Not Drive In

Como's Zona a Traffico Limitato covers the whole walled city, plus the Piazza Roma and Piazza Verdi area, Piazza Volta, Via Grassi and Via Garibaldi. It applies all year and is enforced by cameras at electronic gates. Inside it are pedestrian areas including Piazza Volta, Piazza Cavour, Via Vittorio Emanuele II and Piazza Duomo.

Permits exist, but they are not a visitor's tool. They are applied for online only, with an Italian SPID or CIE digital identity, by category. The Comune lists a digital stamp duty of $18.46 (€16) plus a management fee from $5.77 (€5) up to €20 depending on the category, free for disabled permit holders. Hotel guests have their own permit category, so if your hotel is inside the walls, ask the hotel before you drive to the door. Everyone else should park outside the ring and walk. The Como parking guide compares the car parks.

By Train

Two stations serve the old town from different sides. Como Nord Lago, the Ferrovienord terminus for trains from Milano Cadorna, is on the lake side near Piazza Cavour. Como San Giovanni, on the line from Milano Centrale, is above the old town to the west.

Both regional fares from Milan are $6.23 (€5.40). No official page read gives a walking time from either station to Piazza Duomo, so this page prints none. San Giovanni has its own info point in the station atrium, open every day 09:00-16:00.

The Milan to Como page compares the two lines, and the Como San Giovanni station guide covers the arrival there.

By Boat and Bus

Lake boats land at the piers on Piazza Cavour, which puts you on the old town's lake edge the moment you step off. A band 1 ride from Cernobbio is $3.46 (€3). The ASF bus station is on Piazza Matteotti.

Timetables and tickets for both are on the getting around Como page and the Como ferry guide.

Three ways to spend time inside the walls, from a quick loop of the squares to a guided walk. The guided time is the operator's own listing, the other two are our estimates.

The deciding factor is the day of the week. On a Sunday the cathedral ticket is off the table, so the old town becomes the free loop plus the walls. On a Monday the Pinacoteca is closed, so a full cultural day belongs Tuesday to Saturday.

If Como is a day trip, the old town fits in a morning with time left for the lakefront and the Brunate funicular in the afternoon. That full plan is set out on the Como in one day itinerary. With a second day, see the gallery and the walls on one morning and the lake villas on the other, as in the two-day plan. Other self-guided routes are on the Como walks page.

The old town is where most visitors eat, and its lanes have more places than anywhere else in the city. This guide names a restaurant, café or bar only when a citable list includes it, and for the walled centre that means one entry.

Feel Como, at Via Diaz 54, is in the MICHELIN Guide 2026 selection, without a star. The inspectors class it as Modern Cuisine, describe cooking with wild regional produce, game and freshwater fish in the town centre, and put it in the top price band. It sits on the same street as the Pinacoteca, so it pairs with a gallery visit. Opening hours and menu prices were not captured, so check with the restaurant before you go.

For everything else, the Como restaurants guide lists the sourced options across the city, the typical food of Como page explains what to order, and the cafés and gelato page covers the quick stops. If you would rather have someone choose for you, the small-group food walk meets in Piazza Duomo and covers four or more tasting stops, with wine included, for $113.50.