After the napoleoic interlude (Napoleon was in Como on May.4th  1.796 and spent the night at Villa Saporiti), during which the “Napoleona” - a route linking Como to the Varese, Milano and Cantù crossroads - and the Teatro Sociale - a small neoclassic temple - were built, Como was not insensitive to the European and Italian revolutionary ferment of the first half of the 18th century. It is enough to mention Count Luigi Porro Lambertenghi, founder of a subversive newspaper called “il Conciliatore”, Maurizio Monti, author of a “History of Como”, which was banned because of its progressive ideas and Cesare Cantù, who was removed from his teaching post because of his liberal ideas. The 1.848 turning point was significant. On March.20th, two days before the beginning of the Milan uprising, an uprising in Como forced the Austrian garrison, headquartered in the barracks of St. Francis, to surrender. With the defeat of Carlo Alberto, the situation was brought back to normal, in spite of the destabilization attempts by Giuseppe Mazzini, who was then in Switzerland. During the Second War of Independence (1.859), Giuseppe Garibaldi fought in the outskirts of Como and after the battle at San Fermo - during which Captain Carlo De Cristoforis died - he entered the freed city of Como, triumphant. Marquis Rovelli had him as a guest in his palace in Piazza Volta (Volta square), where a memorial tablet commemorates, now, this episode.

 

 
After centuries of foreign rule, our city finally became a part of the new Italian Kingdom under the Savoy. In the beginning, their rule was characterized by the resolve to equalize rights and responsibilities without emphasizing specific regional problems. At first Como was ruled by a liberal-conservative right-wing government, supported by Bishop Cesana, then, from 1.876, the left-wing governments laid emphasis on the need for social reforms. Such aspirations found expression in the words of Aristide Bari's newspaper and the deeds of Paolo Carcano which led eventually to the improvement of the workers' living conditions and facilitated the creation of new jobs. With a heightened social consciousness, we leave, behind our Risorgimento, heroes whose memory and portraits are prominently featured in the Risorgimento Museum and in Palazzo Cernezzi (the Town Hall), and turn now to the 20th century.

In the 20th century - aside from the sad periods of the two World Wars - Como has been a prosperous town thanks, mainly, to the development of its dyeing and silk industries. These activities started at the turn of the century. As a result, a new labor force arrived in Como and lodgings were built to provide accomodation for the workers. Antonio Sant'Elia, a victim of the First World War, was a joung designer who signed the Furutistic Architecture Manifesto and who, with his lively imagination, planned a futuristic town as we can see in his designs, preserved in the Villa Olmo Museum.

Under Fascism, which imposed its own idea of culture on the whole of Italy, the most avant-guarde architect was Giuseppe Terragni who built rationalist and extremely practical structures (Novo Comum, Palazzo del Fascio, Sant'Elia nursery school), in keeping with the coeval Bauhaus school in Germany, founded by Walter Gropius. Terragni also adapted the War memorial which, as the dominating Fascist culture demanded, was rebuilt according modified design of Sant'Elia. The Obelisk, because of its position - standing by the lake - memorializes all those who fought, whether on the land, in the sea or in the air. Its vertical position seems to lift the esteemed values of patriotism towards the infinite. In the Thirties, thanks to the efforts of artists like Mario Radice, Carla Badiali, Manlio Rho, Aldo Galli, Como became the most important centre of Italian abstractism. Those artists, partly following Mondrian and Kandinskij's example, by means of chromatic additions and substractions, emphasized Terragni's style and transposed it to painting. This is what happened in culture. What remains is the work performed by the creativeness of all those who work in the textile and silk field. The harmony, conveyed by the calm waters of the lake, and a sense of beauty, which emanates from the centuries-old architectures, flows in the blood of these people.