Torre di Porta Vittoria
Torre di Porta Vittoria stands at the southern edge of Como's old town like a punctuation mark at the end of a long sentence — forty metres of pale stone, two arched gates facing outward toward Milan, four tiers of paired arches lightening the interior wall. It was the main door into the city for centuries, and you can still feel that weight in the masonry.
The square around it, Piazza Vittoria, has the low-key rhythm of a neighbourhood rather than a tourist set piece: a Saturday market outside the walls, a few cafes, a high school occupying what was once a church.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who linger tend to walk around to the interior side, where the coupled arches — four orders of them, stacked — reveal how much thought went into a structure that reads as pure muscle from the outside. Look down at the pavement near the adjacent school building too: fragments of Roman Porta Pretoria survive in the basement below.
The story behind Torre di Porta Vittoria
Como's towers were born out of politics as much as military necessity. After Milan crushed the city in 1127, Como aligned itself with the German Emperor Frederick I — Barbarossa — who consented in 1154 to the rebuilding of Como's defensive walls. The work took decades, and it was the podestà Uberto de' Olevano who finally commissioned the tower's construction in 1192, alongside two flanking towers at Porta Nuova to the west and Torre San Vitale to the east.
Porta Torre was the centrepiece: the gate that faced Milan, the one that mattered most symbolically. In the 14th century it was reinforced with a ravelin and two pentagonal outworks; a semicircular bastion followed in the 16th century. The later additions were cleared away in the early 19th century, leaving the Romanesque core you see today.
Good to know
Free to visit and viewable any time, though the interior is not publicly accessible. Bus 4 from Como San Giovanni station drops you directly at Piazza Vittoria. Ten to fifteen minutes is enough for a thorough look around the exterior.
Summer afternoons bring reliable thunderstorms rolling off the Alps, so a morning visit is the safer bet from June through August. Spring and autumn are wetter than you might expect — Como ranks among Italy's rainiest cities — while winter is drier but cold, with temperatures often dropping below freezing overnight.
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What travellers say about Torre di Porta Vittoria
Built in 1192. 40 Meters high. It was built to defend the main enterance to the city. It is place right in the front of the way to Milan to show Como's independence.
Walking around the city, there is a Saturday market mostly for second hand cloths. Good to roam around, but nothing to buy.. There are souvenir shop on close by.
Absolutely love Como. This was our second of many more visits to come. Make sure to schedule time visit the Saturday market outside the wall. Otherwise the old town is delightful to walk and explore.
Really enjoy the wonderful time at the small town Como. I am the only senior to ride the carrousel, it seems a little boy is living in my soul. You must to ride the carrousel if you come to Como Italy.
Porta Torre is a stunning medieval tower located at the southern gate of Como’s old city walls. Built in 1192 to defend the city after a long war with Milan, it stands about 40 meters tall and showcases impressive Romanesque architecture. The structure was part of a larger defensive system commissioned during the time of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. While the outer side appears solid and fortified, the inner side has elegant arched openings where wooden floors once existed. A must-see for anyone interested in medieval history or architecture!
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