The Duomo at Como

[Photo Credit: Luca Trombetta, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]

Julia and Avery arrived in Como, Italy late one evening in August 1899. They went straight to the Duomo—the city’s main cathedral (also known as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta). Even in the dim light, Julia was able to admire the “fine ‘Spanish-like’ proportions” of its exterior. The following morning, they attended early mass, after which Julia wrote in her travel diary: “Inside once, & struck by the new beauty—our first Italian church—broad, high, [and] noble in effect.”

[Julia Morgan Papers, Special Collections and Archives, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, 1-D-05-01.]