our place now and then

THE PLACE WHERE WE LIVE

Hi everybody!We are the Italian team and we come from Como.Como is a city in Lombardy, in the North of Italy, near Milan .It’s situated on Como Lake and surrounded by the Alps . For this reason Como is a very popular tourist destination which contains numerous works of art, churches, gardens, museums, theatres , parks and palaces: the Cathedral with its medieval town hall and a magnificent lakeside with lots of neoclassical villas.

Como,Italy

Latitude: 45°49′0″N

Longitude: 9°5′0″E

OUR PLACE THEN AND NOW

Since we had to show how our city has changed ,we have decided to compare some old photos of two very important

Como squares, with pictures of the same modern squares

This is an old photo of CAMERLATA SQUARE,

which was called CORSICA SQUARE.

Camerlata square is situated in the southern part of Como and it connects the

city centre with the suburbs of the town.

Even if it was an important roundabout which connected the roads coming from Milan,

Varese and Cantù, it looked quite shabby and anonymous. So in the 1930s the city council

decided to improve the area making the square more impressive. This project was

seen as an important opportunity to qualify the suburb of Camerlata as an element of

artistic interest.Two artists from Como were given the task to build a fountain in the centre of the square.

Those were…

Como-born rationalist architect, only 31 years old when he died. Cattaneo left an indelible mark in the form of a handful of major buildings (Camerlata Fountain, Palazzo dell’Unione Lavoratori dell’Industria in Como and others)

CESARE CATTANEO (1912-1943)

Born in Como, he was an Italian painter. He is considered to be an important Italian abstract artist. Together with Manlio Rho, Aldo Galli, Carla Badiali and others, he belonged to the art group named "astrattisti comaschi", a reference to early European experiences of abstract art.

MARIO RADICE(1898 - 1987)

However, when the fountain was built, it was taken temporarily to

Parco Sempione in Milan in 1936, on the occasion of VI Triennale

exhibition

The fountain was taken back to Como in Camerlata, only in 1962.

Now the fountain is in the middle of the roundabout and this photo shows how the

square looks like now.

The apparently fragile structure is actually a “combination of rings and spheres based on harmonious ratios,” as the two authors explain.It is a design made of very simple geometrical shapes. The nine-meter-tall work is perfectly balanced, even if the horizontal rings protrude from the axes of the spheres by almost six meters.The fountain seems quite new because it has been restored recently.

Although Cesare Cattaneo and Mario Radice wanted to create an abstract sculpture, the fountain reminds of Volta's battery because of its parallel circles.

Alessandro Volta(1745-1827)

Como-born physicist, chemist and a pioneer of electrical science

Piazza Cavour is the main square of Como that has acted as the centre of events, tradecraft and a source of

tourist attraction.The piazza underwent a remarkable evolution which is important to understand the role that it played for the

development of the town of Como.

During medieval times the space that now occupies the square was a marsh near the shore with no particular interests. However, in 1335 by order of the Visconti family from Milan, the square was transformed in a port.

The new port was used to handle the commercial traffic and to transport goods. In 1869 with the appearance of the first steamboat, the port proved to be narrow and inadequate and a decision was taken to fill the port and transform it completely into what would result in Piazza Cavour.

The new square, Piazza Cavour, was adorned with a large fountain in the centre, having a large space,

showing a beautiful view of the lake and the mountains around the lake.

In 1891, the fountain was sold to a private person and today it can be found in Bronx Park, New York

After that, the square came to host a mixture of different businesses, industrial and tourist

activities that promoted the progressive and dynamic face of the town of Como, including the fact that Como was the first in Italy to introduce a

fluorescent lighting system.

One of the most important building in the square is the Hotel Pension Suisse, founded under the remains of a warehouse ,was built represents by the engineer by Tommaso Zanini in 1846. The massive structures

located at the edges of the square, were built in recent years during the nineteenth and early twentieth century with the aim of transforming the outlook of this square.

. In the twentieth century, the architect Giuseppe Terragni redesigned the building in a newer decorative style, while at the same time remaining traditional. The hotel was also operational during World War II, during

the occupation of the German military, and since then it has always been a source of attraction for many tourists due to its close location to Lake Como; it is still present

in the landscape of Como.

Giuseppe Terragni(1904-1943)Famous rationalist

architect who built lots of important

buildings in Como.

Until the first half of the twentieth century, the south side of Piazza Cavour remained almost unchanged

Nowadays the wide square is surrounded by luxurious hotels, elegant cafés, smart boutiques and is the

perfect place for concerts, fairs and any kind of events .

THANKS!

for your attention

-The Italian Team

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