Como Cathedral

1396: A Gothic Cathedral On The Bishop's Palace

Work began in 1396 on the site of the old bishop's palace, close to the lake. The cathedral describes the building as a symbol of the years when Como and its lake sat on the routes that linked Italy with northern and central Europe, and you can see that in the mix of northern Gothic and Italian art on the façade.

The architect of the Gothic cathedral is unknown, as at Milan's Duomo. The first designer the cathedral credits by name is Lorenzo degli Spazi from the Val d'Intelvi, who also worked on the Duomo in Milan. Pietro da Breggia, a Como man, supervised the columns and the vaults. The three Gothic naves, with pointed arches and ribbed vaults, are what you walk through on the free route.

The Façade And The Rodari Workshop

Florio da Bontà began the façade between 1460 and 1463 with Aizio de Lurago, another sculptor from the Val d'Intelvi. Luchino Scarabota from Milan finished the rose window and the main spire.

In 1484 Tommaso Rodari from Maroggia, on Lake Lugano, was commissioned to finish the many statues on the front. Three years later he became engineer of the works and stayed until his death in 1526, working with his brothers Giacomo and Donato and their apprentices. The Rodari hands are on the sides of the basilica, on every portal with its lunette of the Infancy of Jesus, and on the side door the cathedral singles out as the Porta della Rana, the Door of the Frog. Inside they carved the apostles on the pillars.

Renaissance Apses And Juvarra's Dome

The Gothic naves open onto three Renaissance apses. The main apse follows the modified designs of Cristoforo Solari, known as il Gobbo, who brought classical architecture into the building with fluted Corinthian and composite orders, entablature and round arches.

The crossing waited longest. After many rejected projects, a late Baroque dome designed by Filippo Juvarra was raised, and the cathedral dates its completion to 1744. That is why the building reads Gothic at the front and classical at the back, and why the transept and the choir under the dome, the parts the ticket opens, feel like a different church.

Outside: The Façade And The Door Of The Frog

Stand at the far side of Piazza Duomo first, beside the Broletto, the old town hall with its striped arcades. From there the whole white front is in view: the rose window and spire Scarabota finished, the ranks of Rodari statues, and the portals with their lunettes of the Infancy of Jesus. Then walk down the sides.

The Porta della Rana, the Door of the Frog, is the side door where the free route comes out, and the cathedral's own history page singles it out by name. Looking at the outside costs nothing and needs no hours.

The Free Route Through The Aisles

Without a ticket you still see a great deal. The route goes in by the Porta delle Virtù on Via Maestri Comacini, down the right aisle past the altar of Sant'Abbondio and the Pala Raimondi, under the organ lofts, and back along the left aisle past the altars of the Deposition and of St Joseph, out through the Door of the Frog. Look up as you walk: the painted vaults run the length of the nave.

Behind The Ticket: Transept, Wooden Choir, Sacristies, Walkways

The ticket opens the rest: the transept under Juvarra's dome, the wooden choir, the sacristies and the upper walkways. This is where the Renaissance and Baroque half of the building is, including the apse stuccoes. The upper walkways are a separate case.

The cathedral's own form says they are visited only with a licensed tour guide and a signed declaration, adults with ID only, up steep narrow spiral stairs. The tickets page lists every rule.

The Organs: 69 Stops And 6,515 Pipes

Two great organs fill the last arches of the Gothic part, the point where the nave meets the Renaissance transept. They were built at the start of the 17th century and inaugurated for the Annunciation in 1650. The cases are Baroque, with balustrades, angels playing music and a classical portal with a broken pediment framing the front pipes. The left case carries Our Lady of the Assumption between two trumpeting angels, the right one Saint Abbondio.

The oldest document of an organ in the cathedral dates from 1441. The right organ was built in 1649 by the Flemish Jesuit William Hermans, the Serassi family worked on both in 1808, Balbiani Vegezzi Bossi of Milan renovated them in 1932, and Mascioni restored them in 1998. Counting the echo organ above the canons' sacristy and the choir organ behind the altar, the cathedral gives today's total as 69 stops and 6,515 pipes.

The Art: From Romanesque Lions To Luini And Ferrari

Some pieces are older than the building. The Romanesque lions were turned into baptismal fonts, the high altar keeps Gothic reliefs in white marble from 1317, and the sarcophagi of Bishop Avvocati, who died in 1293, and Bishop Bonifacio of Modena, who died in 1352, come from the first cathedral.

• Renaissance stone altars, first painted, three of them by Tommaso Rodari
• The stuccoes of the Assumption by Francesco Silva and the Resurrection by Agostino Silva on the apse vaults
• The Evangelists by Gaspare Mola on the pendentives of the dome
• Neoclassical sculpture by Pompeo Marchesi in the central apse and on the altar of St Joseph
• Paintings by Bernardo Luini, Gaudenzio Ferrari, Pordenone and, from the 17th century, Morazzone
• Vault decoration by Carlo Fontana and Francesco Gabetta from 1839, and 19th-century stained glass by the Bertini

The deciding question is how much you want the choir and the transept. The free route is a single loop of the aisles and can be walked quickly, while the ticket adds a second, slower building under the dome.

Two adjustments. On a Sunday the ticketed areas stay shut all day, so only the free route and the outside are on offer, and the Saturday closing is an hour earlier than on weekdays. And the cathedral warns that hours and routes can change for services and events, so a service can limit what is open at short notice.

For prayer the cathedral is open on weekdays from 07:30 to 19:00, and on Sundays and solemnities until the end of the last service, at about 20:00. Anyone can come in at those times through any door, and the cathedral recommends the small left door of the façade.

Tourist visits, which include the ticketed areas, run Monday to Friday 10:30-17:30 and Saturday 10:45-16:30. On Sundays there is a contradiction to know about. The sidebar of several cathedral pages still prints a Sunday window of 11:00-11:45 and 13:00-16:30, but the 2026 price sheet says Sunday sightseeing is suspended and the 2026 closure calendar lists all Sundays and holy days of obligation as closed to tourist visits. The two dated documents are the ones to trust: do not plan the choir for a Sunday.

The closure calendar also names specific days when tourist visits stop, for services or ordinations. These are the dates still to come this year, with Sundays closed on top of them.

The cathedral answers the question directly on its own site: tourists do not need a ticket to come in. There is a set route for them, and it is a good one.

Go in by the Porta delle Virtù, the side door on Via Maestri Comacini that the cathedral also recommends for groups. Walk down the right aisle to the altar of Sant'Abbondio, Como's patron saint, and the Pala Raimondi. Pass under the organ lofts, cross into the left aisle and walk back past the altars of the Deposition and of St Joseph, then leave by the Porta della Rana. You will have seen the Gothic nave, the vaults, both organ cases and some of the best altars in the building.

The back of the cathedral is kept for prayer: the confessionals, the large crucifix and the altar of the Madonna delle Grazie, where people write a prayer or light a candle. The altar of the Assumption, where the Blessed Sacrament is kept, is also a prayer area. Keep your voice down there and step around people kneeling.

If the free route is enough, you spend nothing. If you find yourself wanting the choir under the dome, the ticket desk is next door at the Broletto, and the Como Cathedral tickets page explains which ticket to buy.

The cathedral publishes one visitor rule plainly: photographs are allowed inside for personal, non-commercial use, and never during religious services. Everything else a visitor tends to ask is not on its pages, so here is what we could and could not find.

• Photography: allowed for personal use, forbidden during Mass
• Dress code: not published. It is a working cathedral with services through the day, so covered shoulders are the safe choice
• Bags: no rule published for the nave. The upper walkways do not allow backpacks or bulky bags and offer no storage
• Step-free access: no statement published for the nave. The upper walkways are closed to wheelchairs and pushchairs
• Visit length: not published. Our routing is in the section above
• Paid guided visits: the cathedral says it does not organise any

The Upper Walkways Are Not A Walk-Up Visit

The walkways are on the ticket, but the cathedral's visitor form sets conditions that rule out most casual visitors. You must be with a licensed tour guide, sign a declaration releasing the cathedral from liability, and carry ID. Minors are admitted from age 14 only with an adult, one per adult.

The route is steep narrow spiral stairs and tight passages, so people with claustrophobia, vertigo, heart or joint problems, or reduced mobility are not admitted, and nor are women in advanced pregnancy. Closed flat shoes are required. If that rules you out, the view down over the rooftops is better from Brunate anyway.

• You do not need a ticket to see the nave. There is a set free route in by the Porta delle Virtù and out by the Door of the Frog (cattedraledicomo.it, Visits page).
• The online shop makes you choose a date and a time, but the cathedral says in capitals that entry is not tied to the date you pick (cattedraledicomo.it, Buy tickets page).
• Buying at the Broletto Infopoint costs $6.92 (€6), while the online standard ticket is $7.50 (€6.50) because it includes presale and commission fees (2026 price sheet and museicomo.vivaticket.it).
• The organs count 69 stops and 6,515 pipes once the echo organ above the canons' sacristy and the choir organ are included (cattedraledicomo.it, Duomo page).
• The upper walkways on the ticket need a licensed tour guide and a signed liability form, and minors under 14 are not admitted (cattedraledicomo.it, upper walkways visitor form).

The cathedral's address is Via Maestri Comacini 6, on Piazza Duomo in the walled old town. It lies inside Como's limited traffic zone, so there is no driving up to it: arrive on foot.

From Milan there are two lines and two stations. Trains from Milano Cadorna run to Como Nord Lago on the lakefront, and trains from Milano Centrale run to Como San Giovanni, above the old town. The regional fare is the same either way, and the Milan to Como page has the timetables. The lake boats land on Piazza Cavour, the square on the water at the edge of the old town, and the Como ferry page has the fares.

For the doors: tourists use the Porta delle Virtù on Via Maestri Comacini or the Porta della Presentazione, the small door on the right of the façade. People coming to pray can use any door, and the cathedral suggests the small left door of the façade. Tickets are sold at the Broletto Infopoint on Via Pretorio, on the north side of the cathedral.

• Tourist entrance: Porta delle Virtù, Via Maestri Comacini, or the small right-hand door of the façade
• Exit of the free route: Porta della Rana, the Door of the Frog
• By train: Como Nord Lago from Milano Cadorna, or Como San Giovanni from Milano Centrale
• By boat: the Navigazione landing stage on Piazza Cavour

It fits in the late morning on a weekday. The tourist visit opens at 10:30, the cathedral stands at the centre of the old town, and the lakefront and the pier are close by, so a day that works well looks like this: the old town lanes early, the cathedral when the ticket areas open, lunch, then down to the water and up the funicular to Brunate for the late afternoon light over the lake. If you arrived by boat, the Como ferry page has the return sailings.

On a Sunday, reverse it. Walk the free route and the outside in the morning, spend the middle of the day on the lakefront or up in Brunate, and leave the choir for another trip. For the full list of sights to build the rest of the day around, see things to do in Como.