The statues of two pagans, the Plinys, dominate the entrance to Como Cathedral: the Elder, author of the first encyclopedia, Naturalis Historia, on the left side of the portal, and the Younger, author of one of the most famous collections of letters from the classical age, on the right. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the cathedral was built on the ruins of the previous cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore and is the third largest religious building in Lombardy, after Milan Cathedral and the Certosa di Pavia. The latter shares the same year of foundation, 1396, which is recorded on a stone set into the outer wall of the apse. Construction lasted until 1744, when the dome was completed. The Plinii were sculpted by Tommaso and Giacomo Rodari (c. 1480) during a period of great humanist fervor, and their fellow citizens defended them even during the Counter-Reformation, when the apostolic visitor Giovanni Francesco Bonomi wanted to remove them. It should be noted, however, that at that time the letter written by Pliny the Younger, in his capacity as governor of Bithynia, to Emperor Trajan asking how he should deal with Christians had not yet been found. In some cases, when Christians refused to renounce their faith, he had them put to death in accordance with the laws in force at the time. Inside the cathedral, on the left under the organ facing the high altar, there is a plaque laid in the floor in 1999, the bicentennial of the invention of the battery, to commemorate the spot where Alessandro Volta, “now gray-haired, attended the Eucharistic sacrifice every day with reverence.” But the most interesting inscriptions are walled up on the southern façade, on Via Maestri Comacini, almost at the corner with Piazza del Duomo. These are three inscriptions of Roman origin, one of which concerns Pliny the Younger and mentions some of the offices he held. It was the distinguished Renaissance historian Benedetto Giovio, Paolo’s older brother, who wanted them there. It is no coincidence that he was the only lay person to be granted the honor of burial in the cathedral. Inside, along the left aisle, you will find his funeral monument.
