Blevio (

Comasco Comasco or Comasque is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in the city and suburbs of Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. ...

: ) is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) in the

Province of Como The Province of Como ( it, Provincia di Como; german: Provinz Como; Comasco: ) is a province in the north of the Lombardy region of Italy and borders the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grigioni to the North, the Italian provinces of Sondrio and L ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

region

Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

, located about north of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

and about northeast of

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps ...

. It overlooks the eastern shore of

Lake Como Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...

from hilly slopes starting at more than . Blevio borders the following municipalities: Brunate, Cernobbio,

Moltrasio Moltrasio ( lmo, label=Comasco, Moltras ) is a (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about north of Milan and about north of Como, near the border with Switzerland, on the western shore of Lake Como. Mol ...

, Torno.

History

The ''comune'' of Blevio includes seven villages, the so-called "the seven cities" (Capovico, Cazzanore, Girola, Maggianico, Mezzovico, Sopravilla, Sorto), the most important of which was Capovico, the closest one to Lake Como. The municipal territory extends from above sea level. The etymology of the name of the city could be found in the Celtic Ligurian "Biuelius" (Latin "vivo – alive", Welsh "byw", old Irish "biu – I use to be" and Anglo-Saxon "beo – I am, I become", Indo-Germanic "bheou"). In 1497 the ruler of Milan

Ludovico Sforza Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; "the Moor"). "Arbiter of Italy", according to the expression used by Guicciardini,

gave the fief of Blevio, together with some other near villages, to his lover Ludovica Crivelli. In the following centuries, Blevio became closely linked to Como and finally became a fief of the Tanzi patrician family, whose wealth was based on the silk industry. Count Antonio von Tanzi Blevio, who had been ennobled by the Habsburgs due to his banking activity, built a large villa on the rocks of Perlasca, now part of the neighbouring town of Torno. In 1798, the villa and the village became a possession of the Taverna and Borromeo families, two of the most affluent families of the Milanese aristocracy, before being created as a free town after the

Napoleonic invasion of Italy The Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) were a series of conflicts fought principally in Northern Italy between the French Revolutionary Army and a Coalition of Austria, Russia, Piedmont-Sardinia, and a number of ...

. A minor branch of the same family, who received the title of Edler von Tanzi by the Habsburgs, continued to keep vast possessions of lands in Blevio and nearby Torno until early 1900. Blevio joined the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1859 and later the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, following the conquest of the Piedmontese army of Lombardy. Its numerous lakefront villas host a number of Italian and international celebrities, including singers, actors and athletes.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070821062928/http://www.blevioinlinea-glv.it/index.htm - * http://maps.google.it/maps?oi=eu_map&q=Blevio&hl=it - * https://web.archive.org/web/20071217045759/http://www.passolento.it/erratici.htm – * https://web.archive.org/web/20070716051017/http://www.archeologicacomo.org/main.html?cat=4&scheda=47%23 {{authority control Cities and towns in Lombardy