Villa Geno stands on the Geno point, the promontory that separates the first basin of the lake from the second, in Como. The name of the place recalls the monks and the sick who lived there before the villa: after the Humiliati convent there was a lazaretto, called «Ca’ di mort», and the villa seen today is a late neoclassical rebuilding of the mid-19th century by Giacomo Tazzini.
History
The sources tell this place in layers. The point, once called Zeno, had long been inhabited (Wikipedia mentions a late Roman stone found in 1721) and in the 13th century a house of the Humiliati arose there with a church, dedicated to Saint Clement (originally, writes Wikipedia, to Saint Zeno), and a hospital. At the beginning of the 16th century the complex, passed to the Ospedale Maggiore of Como, became a lazaretto for plague patients, and was also in the following century; for centuries the place was called «Ca’ di mort», and fishermen rowing past the point crossed themselves.
After the plague the property changed hands several times. In 1790 (Wikipedia, Larius Way) or at the end of the 18th century (regional record) it was bought by the Marchesa Menafoglio, Cristina Emilia Ghilini Pettenari for Wikipedia, who wanted to make a country villa of it and demolished the chapel of San Clemente; but an ossuary linked to the lazaretto was still there in 1884, when August Strindberg saw it on a boat trip, and in 1893 the chapel is still standing, dedicated to Saint Charles. The marchesa’s building remained unfinished and, in the early 19th century, the property passed to the Cornaggia Medici marquises, with Carlo Cristoforo.
Around 1850 the Cornaggia Medici decided to pull the building down and commissioned the architect Giacomo Tazzini, a pupil of Luigi Canonica according to Larius Way and of Canova according to a blog, to build a villa of late neoclassical lines. The interior was decorated with frescoes by Eleuterio Pagliano and Giuseppe Bertini, and the family also looked after the large park and the tree-lined avenue that still links Geno to the city. The regional record specifies that the villa keeps the late neoclassical forms of the lake façade, though compromised by alterations.
In 1911 the Municipality of Como bought the whole property and made it a new municipal park named after Queen Margherita, reducing the villa’s park. After the Second World War the area was equipped for tourists: the fountain (1948-1951, engineer Renato Uslenghi), the lido (1950-52, architect Fulvio Cappelletti), in 1951 the seat of Como Nuoto and in the 1970s a pool by the engineer Luciano Trolli.
What to see
The villa, on the lake, has its façade turned to the first basin. In front of the point, the fountain is the symbol of the area: according to Larius Way the jet rises up to 45 metres and the basin rests on a sturdy reinforced concrete slab jutting into the lake; an undated Camminacittà card warns that at Geno the fountain area was closed to access. From the point, and from the avenue, there is a view that reaches beyond Torno and, on the other shore, as far as Cernobbio.
Next to it is the Lido di Villa Geno, which has its own page, and a short way off the Villa Geno boat basin, where water-sport associations are based.
A concession in 2026
The Municipality of Como put the concession of the area out to tender in two lots: the villa, with an annual fee of 345,950 euros, and the green area, with 30,118 euros, for six years, in a property subject to monument and environmental protection. Offers were due by noon on 6 July 2026; after a postponement to 9 July, according to the Virgilio article of 17 July 2026 that follows ComoZero, the tender was awarded to VD BuonoBuono Como Srl, already operator of the Villa Olmo restaurant, with an offer of 600 thousand euros, above the starting price. The award does not yet mean handover: checks on the self-declarations and on the company’s regularity and the contract are needed. We do not know how the villa will be used or when it will reopen: it is best to check.
Practical information
- The villa is at viale Geno 12, in Como; it can be reached on foot from the centre along the lake, or by bus (lines C30 or C31 from San Giovanni, per Larius Way).
- Use uncertain: the villa, formerly a restaurant, is the subject of the concession described above, and cannot be visited as a monument.
- The park and the avenue are public.
Sources
- Lombardia Beni Culturali, Villa Geno - complesso (record CO180-00167)
- Larius Way, Villa Geno Como (ex Cornaggia)
- Lake Como Ville, La meravigliosa Villa Geno
- Blog «Le cose belle esistono», Villa Geno e Villa Cornaggia (2018)
- Camminacittà, La riva del Voo e la punta di Geno (PDF)
- Virgilio, Villa Geno aggiudicata per 600 mila euro (17 July 2026)
- Wikipedia, entry Villa Geno.