Blevio ( Comasco: ) is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) in the

Province of Como The province of Como (; Comasco dialect, Comasco: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. It borders the Switzerland, Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grisons, Grigioni to the north, the Italian provinces of Province of ...

in the Italian region

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, located about north of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and about northeast of Como. It overlooks the eastern shore of

Lake Como Lake Como ( , ) also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. ...

from hilly slopes starting at more than . Blevio borders the following municipalities: Brunate, Cernobbio, Como, Moltrasio, 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'), and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco 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 A taverna (; ) is a small Greek restaurant that serves Greek cuisine. The taverna is an integral part of Greek culture and has become familiar to people from other countries who visit Greece, as well as through the establishment of tavernes ...

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. 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. Famous ballerina Marie Taglioni enjoyed her stay in Blevio so much to purchase a romantic lake-front villa (Villa Taglioni) while her lover prince Aleksander Trubetskoy built a spectacular villa nearby. 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