History

Main sights

• Cathedral of Pavia (Duomo di Pavia), begun in 1488; however, only by 1898 were the façade and the dome completed according to the original design. The central dome has an octagonal plan, stands 97 m high, and weighs some 20,000 tons. This dome is the third for size in Italy, after St. Peter's Basilica and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Next to the Duomo were the Civic Tower (existing at least from 1330 and enlarged in 1583 by Pellegrino Tibaldi): its fall on March 17, 1989 was the final motivating force that started the last decade's efforts to save the Leaning Tower of Pisa from a similar fate.
• San Michele Maggiore (St. Michael) is an outstanding example of Lombard-Romanesque church architecture in Lombardy. It is located on the site of a pre-existing Lombard church, which the lower part of the campanile belongs to. Destroyed in 1004, the church was rebuilt from around the end of the 11th century (including the crypt, the transept and the choir), and finished in 1155. It is characterized by an extensive use of sandstone and by a very long transept, provided with a façade and an apse of its own. In the church the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was crowned in 1155.
• Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro ("St. Peter in Golden Sky") was begun in the 6th century, where Saint Augustine, Boethius and the Lombard king Liutprand are buried. The current construction was built in 1132. It is similar to San Michele Maggiore, differentiating for the asymmetric façade with a single portal, the use of brickwork instead of sandstone, and, in the interior, the absence of [[matronei]or galleries reserved for women] and the shortest transept. The noteworthy arch housing the relics of St. Augustine was built in 1362 by artists from Campione, and is decorated by some 150 statues and reliefs. The church is mentioned by Dante Alighieri in the X canto of his Divine Comedy.
• S. Teodoro (1117), dedicated to Theodore of Pavia, a medieval bishop of the diocese of Pavia, is the third romanesque basilica in the city, though smaller than the former ones. It lays on the slopes leading down to Ticino river and served the fishermen. The apses and the three-level tiburium are a sample of the effective simplicity of romanesque decoration. Inside: two outstanding bird's eye view frescoes of the city (y. 1525) attributed to the painter Bernardino Lanzani. The latter, the definitive release, was stripped off disclosing the unfinished first one. Both are impressively detailed, and reveal how little Pavia’s urban design has changed during the last 500 years.
• the large fortified Castello Visconteo (built 1360-1365 by Galeazzo II Visconti). In spite of its being fortified, it actually was used as a private residence rather than a stronghold. The poet Francesco Petrarca spent some time there, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti called him to take charge of the magnificent library which owned about a thousand books and manuscripts, subsequentely lost. The Castle is now home to the City Museums (Musei Civici) and the park is a popular attraction for children. An unconfirmed legend wants the Castle to be connected by a secret underground tunnel to the Certosa.
• the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, one of the most known examples of Gothic brickwork architecture in northern Italy. It is the second largest church in the city after the Cathedral, and is on the Latin cross plan, with a perimeter of 80 x 40 meters comprising a nave and two aisles. The characteristic façade has a large rose window and seven cusps.
• the Renaissance church of Santa Maria di Canepanova, attributed to Bramante.
• the University of Pavia was founded in 1361, although a School of Rhetoric is documented since 825. The Centrale Building is a wide block made up by twelve courts of the XV-XIX centuries. The sober façade shifts from barock style to neoclassic. The Big Staircase, the Aula Foscolo, Aula Volta, Aula Scarpa and the Aula Magna are neoclassic too. The Cortile degli Spiriti Magni hosts the statues of some of the most important scholars and alumni. Ancient burial monuments and gravestones of scholars of the XIV-XVI centuries are walled up in the Cortile Voltiano (most stem from demolished churches). The Cortile delle Magnolie holds an ancient pit, the Cortile di Ludovico il Moro has a renaissance loggia, and terracotta decorations: both courts, as well as two more, were the cloisters of the ancient Ospedale di San Matteo. The Orto Botanico dell'Università di Pavia is the university's botanical garden.
• The medieval Towers still shape the town skyline. The main clusters still rising are rallied in Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, via Luigi Porta, piazza Collegio Borromeo.

Notable Pavesi