Isola Comacina

Sala Comacina is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Milan and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Como. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 618 and an area of 5.3 square kilometres (2.0 sq mi). Sala Comacina borders the following municipalities: Colonno, Lezzeno, Ossuccio, Ponna.

The Sacri Monti (plural of Sacro Monte, Italian for "Sacred Mountain") of Piedmont and Lombardy are a series of nine calvaries or groups of chapels and other architectural features created in northern Italy during the late sixteenth century and the seventeenth century. They are dedicated to various aspects of the Christian faith and are considered of great beauty by virtue of the skill with which they have been integrated into the surrounding natural landscape of hills, forests and lakes. They also house important artistic materials in the form of wall paintings and statuary. In 2003, they were named as a World Heritage Site.

The Sacro Monte di Ossuccio (literally "Sacred Mount of Ossuccio") is one of the nine sacri monti in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Piedmont, in northern Italy, which were inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2003. The devotional complex is located in Ossuccio, on a prealpine crag some 200 metres above the western shore Lake Como, facing Isola Comacina and some 25 km from the city of Como. Surrounded by olive groves and woodland, it is quite isolated from other buildings. The fourteen chapels, constructed between 1635 and 1710 in the typical Baroque style reflecting the Counter Reformation ethos of the sacri monti movement, are joined by a path which leads up to a pre-existing sanctuary of 1532 placed on the summit and dedicated to La Beata Vergine del Soccorso.

Ossuccio (Lombard: Ossusc) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy. It is located on the western shore of Lake Como some 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Como. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 975 and an area of 8.0 square kilometres (3.1 sq mi). It is known for the Sacro Monte, a site of pilgrimage and worship close to it, for the late 16th century Villa del Balbiano [1], the mid-20th century Villa Leoni [2], and for the island of Comacina which falls within its territory. Ossuccio borders the following municipalities: Colonno, Lenno, Lezzeno, Ponna, Porlezza, Sala Comacina. The Comune di Ossuccio will be united to Mezzegra, Lenno and Tremezzo to form a single municipality named Tremezzina: the new administration will be formalized after election of the Major on 25 May 2014.

The Villa del Balbiano is a villa in Ossuccio, in Lombardy, Italy.

Colonno (Lombard: Colònn [kuˈlɔn]) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Milan and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) northeast of Como. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 557 and an area of 5.7 km2. Colonno borders the following municipalities: Argegno, Laino, Lezzeno, Ossuccio, Pigra, Ponna, Sala Comacina.

Lenno (Lombard: Lenn) was a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Milan and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Como. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,800 and an area of 9.6 km2. Lenno bordered the following municipalities: Bellagio, Bene Lario, Grandola ed Uniti, Lezzeno, Mezzegra, Ossuccio, Porlezza, Tremezzo. The Comune di Lenno was united to Mezzegra, Ossuccio and Tremezzo to form a single municipality named Comune di Tremezzina: the new administration was formalized after election of the Mayor on 25 May 2014.

The Villa del Balbianello is a villa in the comune of Lenno (province of Como), a province in the north of the Lombardy region of Italy, overlooking Lake Como. It is located on the tip of the small wooded peninsula of Dosso d'Avedo on the western shore of the south-west branch of Lake Como, 1500 meters east from the Isola Comacina. The villa is famous for its elaborate terraced gardens.

Lezzeno (Comasco: Léscen [ˈleːʃẽ]) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Milan and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) northeast of Como. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,088 and an area of 22.5 square kilometres (8.7 sq mi). Lezzeno borders the following municipalities: Argegno, Bellagio, Colonno, Lenno, Nesso, Ossuccio, Sala Comacina, Tremezzo, Veleso, Zelbio.

Argegno (Comasco: Argegn) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Milan and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) north of Como. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 650 and an area of 4.3 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi).The village, like many in the Lake Como area is popular with expatriates, particularly from the United Kingdom, a situation exacerbated by the economic flux in recent years. The local economy is heavily dependent upon tourism and the service industry.A cable car can transport people up to the nearby village of Pigra.Argegno is situated on an inlet in the lake, and is built alongside the River Telo which flows into the lake, the discharge of which is heavily dependent upon the season. Argegno borders the following municipalities: Brienno, Colonno, Dizzasco, Lezzeno, Nesso, Pigra, Schignano. It is situated between the villages of Menaggio and Cernobbio.

Benito Mussolini, the deposed Italian fascist dictator, was summarily executed by an Italian partisan in the village of Giulino di Mezzegra in northern Italy on 28 April 1945, in the final days of World War II in Europe. The generally accepted version of events is that Mussolini was shot by Walter Audisio, a communist partisan. However, since the end of the war, the circumstances of Mussolini's death, and the identity of his executioner, have been subjects of continuing dispute and controversy in Italy. In 1940, Mussolini took his country into World War II on the side of Nazi Germany but soon was met with military failure. By the autumn of 1943, he was reduced to being the leader of a German puppet state in northern Italy and was faced with the Allied advance from the south and an increasingly violent internal conflict with the partisans. In April 1945, with the Allies breaking through the last German defences in northern Italy and a general uprising of the partisans taking hold in the cities, Mussolini's situation became untenable. On 25 April he fled Milan, where he had been based, and headed towards the Swiss border. He and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were captured on 27 April by local partisans near the village of Dongo on Lake Como. Mussolini and Petacci were executed the following afternoon, two days before Adolf Hitler's suicide. The bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were taken to Milan and left in a suburban square, the Piazzale Loreto, for a large angry crowd to insult and physically abuse. They were then hung upside down from a metal girder above a service station on the square. Initially, Mussolini was buried in an unmarked grave but, in 1946, his body was dug up and stolen by fascist supporters. Four months later it was recovered by the authorities who then kept it hidden for the next eleven years. Eventually, in 1957, his remains were allowed to be interred in the Mussolini family crypt in his home town of Predappio. His tomb has become a place of pilgrimage for neo-fascists and the anniversary of his death is marked by neo-fascist rallies. In the post-war years, the "official" version of Mussolini's death has been questioned in Italy (although not internationally, in general) in a manner that has drawn comparison with the John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. Some journalists, politicians and historians, doubting the veracity of Audisio's account, have advanced a wide variety of theories and speculation as to how Mussolini died and who was responsible. At least twelve different individuals have, at various times, been claimed to be the killer. These have included Luigi Longo and Sandro Pertini who subsequently became general secretary of the Italian Communist Party and President of Italy respectively. Some writers believe that Mussolini's death was part of a Special Operations Executive operation, with the supposed aim of retrieving compromising "secret agreements" and correspondence with Winston Churchill that Mussolini had allegedly been carrying when he was captured. However, the "official" explanation, with Audisio as Mussolini's executioner, remains the most credible narrative.

Monte di Tremezzo is a mountain of the Lugano Prealps in Lombardy, Italy. It is the highest summit of a ridge just south of Porlezza commune, lying between Lake Lugano and Lake Como. Due to its modest height (by alpine standards) it is a relatively easy mountain to climb, but due to its great prominence it provides a good view across the lakes, and over to the High Alps; mountains as far away as Finsteraarhorn, Dom and Monte Leone can be seen on a clear day.