Villa Geno Como

Villa Geno, also known as "ex Cornaggia", stands on the picturesque Geno's tip (once called Zeno), a privileged and panoramic position that separates the first and second basins of the Lake ComoThe history of this place has its roots in the Two hundred, when a house of the religious order of the Humiliated, with a small church dedicated to San Clemente and a hospital attached.

At the beginning of Five hundred, the complex was transformed into a lazaret to welcome plague victims, a function it maintained into the seventeenth century. This sad use meant that the town of Geno was known for centuries as "Ca' di mort" (the house of the dead).

Once the period of plagues was over, in 1790, the area became property of the marquise Cristina Menafoglio Ghilini, who had the ancient chapel of San Clemente demolished to build a suburban residence. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the villa passed to the marquises Cornaggia Medici, who continued the transformation works.

In 1850, the Cornaggia family decided to demolish the entire complex and commissioned the architect James Tazzini, a student of Luigi Canonica, to design a new building in courtly neoclassical style. On the same occasion a large garden and a connecting road to the square of the funicolare of Como, improving accessibility to the villa.

Il Municipality of Como purchased the complex in 1911, including the villa, the park and the lakeside promenade. From 1951, Villa Geno is embellished by a monumental fountain located in front of the building, capable of creating a jet of water reaching a height of 45 meters. Designed by the engineer Renato Uslenghi, the fountain is distinguished by the presence of a sturdy reinforced concrete slab that juts out spectacularly into the lake.