The Torre Baradello is the remnant of a 12th-century castle built by Frederick Barbarossa after his forces sacked and rebuilt Como in 1159. The castle no longer stands, but the square tower — rising from a rocky outcrop on the southern hillside above the city — has survived in good condition and is visible from much of Como below.
The climb up takes about 20 minutes on foot from the city walls and is rewarded with an unobstructed view over the lake's southern basin and the city's red-tiled rooftops. In 1277, Napo Torriani, a defeated Milanese nobleman, was imprisoned in the tower and died there — one of many episodes in the bloody medieval politics of the Italian city-states that the tower silently witnessed.
The tower can be visited on weekends and holidays in the warmer months; at other times the exterior and the view from the surrounding park are freely accessible. It is less visited than the lakefront attractions and feels genuinely off the tourist circuit even in high season.