Basilica di Sant'Abbondio
Basilica di Sant'Abbondio rises in Como as a Romanesque church with twin bell towers framing its simple façade. Seven windows and one portal face the city, while the old Via Regina once connected this setting with Milan and northern Europe.
The basilica replaced a fifth-century church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, rebuilt by Benedictine monks from about 1050 and consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1095. Fourteenth-century frescoes fill the apse with scenes from the life of Jesus, the Annunciation, the Crucifixion, apostles and evangelists. Romanesque bas-reliefs add carved detail, while the former monastery now houses the Faculty of Law at the University of Insubria.
Look beneath the high altar for the relics of Saint Abundius, then look upward to the choir vault, where lapis lazuli dust creates a starry sky. Marble slabs on the floor mark foundations of the earlier church and its vanished porch, discovered during nineteenth-century restoration.
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