Tempio Voltiano (Volta Temple), Como (must see)

Francesco Somaini, owner of a cotton mill in Como and Member of Parliament, had the idea of building a place devoted to the memory of Alessandro Volta, the great physicist and inventor of the electrical battery, to preserve his scientific tools and documents. Somaini had seen the fire that destroyed much of the Great Exhibition pavilions in 1936. The fire took with it artifacts associated with the works of Alessandro Volta.

Somaini had the resources, and architect Federico Frigerio started the project "to honor a man who was among the brightest glories of the Napoleonic era." He designed the building in a Neoclassic architectural style. The Volta Temple museum was illustrated on the 10,000 Liras bill.

The museum building was completed in 1927 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the scientist's death. It was donated to the city by Francesco Somaini. The Volta Temple is located on the beautiful lakefront of Como, between the War Memorial and the Monument to European Resistance.

It has a raised portico supported by six free-standing fluted Corinthian columns inspired by the Pantheon of Agrippa in Rome. There is a triangular pediment above the portico. A cylindrical dome covers the main chamber. The museum hosts a collection of instruments used by Volta, including his voltaic piles (batteries).