Shortly after the year 1,000, Bishop Alberic established a Benedictine community at the early Christian basilica of Ss. Apostles, dating from the 5th century, located outside the city walls along the ancient road, known as the Via Regina, that joined Como to the Rhaetian beyond.
The community soon reached a position of great wealth and prestige.
Demolishing the early Christian structure, it began its reconstruction in Romanesque forms inspired by Germanic architecture, and the new basilica was dedicated to St. Abbondio, the fourth bishop of Como, who was buried there.
The new church was consecrated by Urban II in 1095.
Inside stands out the splendid cycle of apsidal frescoes with Stories from the Life of Christ, one of the most intact of early 14th-century Lombardy attributed to the “Master of Sant’Abbondio.”
The Romanesque appearance, profoundly altered by various interventions over the centuries, was recovered, with some forcing, in the restoration carried out by Sera no Balestra from 1863, who uncovered the underlying basilica, eliminated the additions of the 15th – 17th centuries and rebuilt the northern bell tower, which had been destroyed.
Demolishing the early Christian structure, it began its reconstruction in Romanesque forms inspired by Germanic architecture, and the new basilica was dedicated to St. Abbondio, the fourth bishop of Como, who was buried there.
The new church was consecrated by Urban II in 1095.
Inside stands out the splendid cycle of apsidal frescoes with Stories from the Life of Christ, one of the most intact of early 14th-century Lombardy attributed to the “Master of Sant’Abbondio.”
The Romanesque appearance, profoundly altered by various interventions over the centuries, was recovered, with some forcing, in the restoration carried out by Sera no Balestra from 1863, who uncovered the underlying basilica, eliminated the additions of the 15th – 17th centuries and rebuilt the northern bell tower, which had been destroyed.
