The Abbey of San Benedetto in Polirone is a large complex of Benedictine order monastic buildings, including a church and cloisters, located in the town of San Benedetto Po , Province of Mantua , Region of Lombardy , Italy. The complex, now belonging to the city, houses offices, a museum, and is open to visitors.
92-580: The abbey was founded in 1007 by Tedald , count of Canossa , the paternal grandfather of Matilda of Canossa, countess of Tuscany , with a grant to the Benedictine monks , of half his land lying between the rivers Po and Lirone , prompting the title "in Polirone". Polirone was the monastery most closely associated with his granddaughter, Matilda, who granted estates and dependencies. Boniface III, Margrave of Tuscany made further grants and commissioned
184-613: A Roman officer. Pavia was the seat of an important Roman mint between 273 and 326. The reign of Romulus Augustulus (r. 475–476), the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire ended at Pavia in 476 CE, and Roman rule thereby ceased in Italy. Romulus Augustulus, while considered the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was actually a usurper of the imperial throne ; his father Flavius Orestes dethroned
276-488: A banquet meant to negotiate a peace between the two rulers. With the establishment of the Ostrogoth kingdom based in northern Italy, Theoderic began his vast program of public building. Pavia was among several cities that Theodoric chose to restore and expand. He began the construction of the vast palace complex that would eventually become the residence of Lombard monarchs several decades later. Theoderic also commissioned
368-626: A business supplying electrical materials, the Einstein. The Einsteins lived in the city in the same building ( Palazzo Cornazzani ) where Ugo Foscolo and Ada Negri had lived. The young Albert came to the family several times between 1895 and 1896. During his time in Italy he wrote a short essay with the title "On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field". In 1943 Pavia
460-743: A close collaborator of William the Conqueror and, after the Norman conquest of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, reorganizer of the English church. Pavia remained the capital of the Italian Kingdom and the centre of royal coronations until the diminution of imperial authority there in the 12th century. In 1004, Holy Roman Emperor Henry II bloodily suppressed a revolt of the citizens of Pavia, who disputed his recent coronation as King of Italy . In
552-473: A collection of clay votive offerings donated by Pope Pius XI ) and Roman (some from Pompeii ). The Natural History Museum of the University (Kosmos), housed inside Palazzo Botta Adorno , is one of the oldest in Italy, it was in fact founded by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1771 and which preserves a naturalistic heritage of high scientific and historical value, including nearly 400,000 finds divided between
644-470: A crosier in elephantine ivory carved, painted and gilded made by a Sicilian workshop by the hand of Arab craftsmen and dating back to the end of the 12th century), sculptures and paintings, such as the panel of the Madonna della Misericordia by Lorenzo Fasolo . The history of the municipality of Pavia, from the tenth to the twentieth century, can be told through the amount of documentation collected within
736-570: A culturally rich period due to the presence of leading scientists and humanists like Ugo Foscolo , Alessandro Volta , Lazzaro Spallanzani , and Camillo Golgi , among others. In 1796, after the Jacobins demolished Regisole (a bronze classical equestrian monument), the inhabitants of Pavia revolted against the French and the revolt was quelled by Napoleon after a furious urban fight. In 1814, it again came under Austrian administration. In 1818
828-677: A larger church, housing the remains of the hermit, Simeon of Polirone (died 1016). In 1077 the community passed into the reformed Benedictines under the Abbey of Cluny . At the time of the Gregorian reforms , the abbot was one of the principal proponents of the papacy in the Investiture Conflict . From 1115 until 1632, the abbey church housed the arca raised on eight columns housing the mortal remains of Matilda of Canossa, who had selected Polirone as her memorial place, rather than
920-570: A legacy of the city's prestigious past, divided into several museums. The Pavia Civic Museums (located, in the Visconti Castle ) are divided into various sections: Archaeological, which preserves one of the richest collections of Roman glass in northern Italy and important artifacts and archeological finds of Lombard period, such as the plutei of Teodota and the collection (the largest in Italy) of Lombard epigraphs, some of which belong to
1012-602: A method to demonstrate their piety and their wealth by extravagantly decorating these structures which in many cases would become the site of that person's tomb, as in the case of Grimoald (r. 662–671) who built San Ambrogio in Pavia and buried there after his death in 671. Aripert I had the basilica of Santissimo Salvatore built in 657, which became the mausoleum of the kings of the Bavarian dynasty . Perctarit (r. 661–662, 672–688) and his son Cunicpert (r.679–700) built
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#17327755477091104-519: A nunnery and a church at Pavia during their reigns. Lombard churches were sometimes named after those who commissioned their construction, such as San Maria Theodota in Pavia. The monastery of San Michele alla Pusterla located at Pavia was the royal monastery of the Lombard kings. One of the most famous churches built by a Lombard king in Pavia is the church San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro . This famous church
1196-455: A province in the shape of a bunch of grapes , as it was defined by Gianni Brera , there are many fruits that this land offers and which are the origin of various local dishes. The wealth of springs and waterways have made Pavia, and its territory, one of the main Italian centers for the production of rice, it is therefore no coincidence that there are numerous recipes that allow you to discover
1288-687: A reputation as a place to have a "good time," as witness the Archpoet 's famous comments of 1163. In the following centuries Pavia was an important and active town. Pavia supported the emperor Frederick II against the Lombard League and the Pavese army took part in numerous operations in the service of the emperor and participated in the battle of Cortenuova in 1237. Under the Treaty of Pavia , Emperor Louis IV granted during his stay in Italy
1380-516: A rich frame, on top of which there is a mask with a crown count and often flanked by two angels holding the shield and the letters CO-PP (Comunitas Papie). The seal of the municipality depicts the Regisole , an ancient late antique bronze equestrian statue originally placed inside the Royal Palace and, probably in the 11th century, placed in the cathedral square. The statue was pulled down by
1472-504: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pavia Pavia ( UK : / ˈ p ɑː v i ə / PAH -vee-ə , US : / p ə ˈ v iː ə / pə- VEE -ə ; Italian: [paˈviːa] ; Lombard: [paˈʋiːa] ; Latin : Ticinum ; Medieval Latin : Papia ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy , in Northern Italy , 35 kilometres (22 miles) south of Milan on
1564-480: Is known for a variety of agricultural products, including wine , rice , cereals, and dairy products. Although there are a number of industries located in the suburbs, these tend not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the town. It is home to the ancient University of Pavia (founded in 1361 and recognized in 2022 by the Times Higher Education among the top 10 in Italy and among the 300 best in
1656-664: Is little information, but, again in the eighth century, a Jewish community was also present in Pavia: Alcuin of York recalls a religious disputation that took place in the city between 750 and 766 between the Jew Julius of Pavia and the Christian Peter of Pisa. Emperor Lothair I , king of Italy from 822 to 850, paid attention to schools when in 825 he issued his capitulary by means of which he prescribed that students from many towns of north Italy had to attend
1748-621: Is located in the cathedral's crypt. The third and largest tomb of the three located in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro contains the remains of St. Augustine of Hippo . St. Augustine is the early fifth-century Christian writer from Roman North Africa whose works such as On Christian Doctrine revolutionized the way in which the Christian scripture is interpreted and understood. On October 1, 1695, artisans working in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro rediscovered St. Augustine's remains after lifting up some of
1840-738: The Consolation of Philosophy . Pavia played an important role in the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths that began in 535. After the Eastern Roman general Belisarius 's victory over the Ostrogothic leader Wittigis in 540 and the loss of most of the Ostrogoth lands in Italy, Pavia was among the last centres of Ostrogothic resistance that continued the war and opposed Eastern Roman rule. After
1932-749: The Electorate of the Palatinate to his brother Duke Rudolph's descendants. Pavia held out against the domination of Milan , finally yielding to the Visconti family, rulers of that city in 1359 after a difficult siege; under the Visconti Pavia became an intellectual and artistic centre, being the seat from 1361 of the University of Pavia founded around the nucleus of the old school of law, which attracted students from many countries. During
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#17327755477092024-570: The Emperor Henry II on his campaign to Italy in 1004 and was present at Henry's royal coronation in Pavia on May 15. He received Ferrara from the pope . He ensured that his entire patrimony passed to his son Boniface . His second son, Tedald , became Bishop of Arezzo in 1023 and sponsored Guido of Arezzo . Tedald married Willa daughter of Hubert of Spoleto , natural son of Hugh of Italy . This biography of an Italian noble
2116-675: The Girolamo Cardano University of Pavia, while, probably in 1511, Leonardo da Vinci studied anatomy together with Marcantonio della Torre , professor of anatomy at the university. In 1597, by the will of Philip II of Spain, the Jewish community of Pavia had to abandon the city. During the Franco-Spanish war , Pavia was besieged from 24 July to 14 September 1655 by a large French, Savoyard and Estense army commanded by Thomas Francis, prince of Carignano , but
2208-577: The Jacobins in 1796. The Pavia municipality falls in the orographic system of the Po Valley formed after the alluvial filling of the wide of the gulf occupied by the Adriatic Sea before the Quaternary . A large part of the historic city center is located on the edge of the river Ticino . The city occupies an area of 62.86 km (24.27 sq mi) west of Lombardy , located along
2300-581: The Laevi and Marici , two Ligurian , or Celto-Ligurian, tribes, while Ptolemy attributes it to the Insubres , a Celtic population. The Roman city, known as Ticinum , was a municipality and an important military site (a castrum ) under the Roman Empire . It most likely began as a small military camp built by the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio in 218 BCE to guard a wooden bridge he had built over
2392-566: The Pavia cathedral from 1497 is also exhibited inside the picture gallery. The university's museum network is very vast, consisting of the University History Museum of the University of Pavia, divided between the Section of Medicine, where anatomical and pathological preparations, surgical instruments are also exhibited (the surgical paraphernalia of Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla ) and life-size anatomical waxes, made by
2484-531: The Ponte Coperto . The humidity of the area is quite high (75–80% is the annual average), and this causes the typical fog, starting mainly during late autumn and winter. Pavia's most famous landmark is the Certosa , or Carthusian monastery, founded in 1396 and located eight kilometres (5.0 miles) north of the city. Among other notable structures are: Pavia possesses a remarkable artistic treasure,
2576-515: The diocese of Pavia since the tenth century. The Centro per gli studi sulla tradizione manoscritta di autori moderni e contemporanei (Formerly the "Research Center on the Manuscript Tradition of Modern and Contemporary Authors", also known as the "Manuscript Center"), founded by Maria Corti in 1980, is responsible for the conservation and to the study of modern and contemporary archival and bibliographic heritage. The center, among
2668-568: The university (then the only one of all the Duchy of Milan ) to promising young people, but with scarce economic resources. In 1754, by the will of Empress Maria Theresa , the Biblioteca Universitaria was created, the most important in terms of book heritage in the city, which also preserves 1,404 manuscripts, 702 incunabula , 1,153 parchments (from 1103 to 1787), the 3,592 old prints, and 1,287 old geographical maps. In 1887
2760-532: The 12th century, Pavia acquired the status of a self-governing commune . In the political division between Guelphs and Ghibellines that characterized the Italian Middle Ages, Pavia was traditionally Ghibelline, a position that was as much supported by the rivalry with Milan as it was a mark of the defiance of the Emperor that led the Lombard League against the emperor Frederick Barbarossa , who
2852-535: The 13th century: a red banner with a white cross. This symbol, probably derived from blutfahne, the original flag of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire , had a clear political meaning: to underline Pavia's belonging to the Ghibelline faction. The coat of arms of the municipality also depicts the cross which, starting from the end of the 16th century, began to be represented in an oval shape and within
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2944-462: The 15th century, when Elijah ben Shabbetai, personal doctor of Filippo Maria Visconti and professor at the University of Pavia and, above all, Joseph Colon Trabotto , who was a 15th-century rabbi who is considered Italy's foremost Judaic scholar and Talmudist of his era, and in the same university a Hebrew course was activated in 1490. Also in the fifteenth century, by the will of the Dukes of Milan,
3036-510: The Alps into northern Italy defeating the Lombard army commanded by king Desiderius (r. 757–774). Between the autumn of 773 and June of 774 Charlemagne laid siege to Pavia first and then Verona, capturing the seat of Lombard power and quickly crushing any resistance from the northern Lombard fortified cities. Pavia had been the official capital of the Lombards since the 620s, but it was also
3128-558: The Archivio Storico Civico (established in 1895), which also contains collections containing the archives of many aristocratic families from Pavia and of city personalities, such as Gaetano Sacchi, Benedetto Cairoli and Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti . The Archivio di Stato (founded in 1959) also collect funds from noble archives (Beccaria, Bottigella, Belcredi, Malaspina ) and more, such as the Mori collection, which collects
3220-565: The Biblioteca Civica Carlo Bonetta was established, the main seat of the library system of the city which is divided into eight loan and reading points distributed evenly over the entire municipal area. Among the university libraries we should mention the Library of Humanistic Studies, born from the amalgamation of several libraries of the university's humanistic faculties, such as that of archeology (built in 1819),
3312-637: The Calvenza) and by the Vernavola. The two valleys tend to converge just behind the area of the ancient city, so that primitive Pavia found itself on an almost isolated and difficult to reach trunk or stump of terrace, almost triangular in shape, which Ticino had to the south, the Calvenza and then the Navigliaccio to the north-west and the Vernavola to the north-east. From an elevation point of view,
3404-524: The Florentine ceroplast Clemente Susini and the Physics Section which houses the physics cabinet of Alessandro Volta (where hundreds of scientific instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries are exhibited, some belonging to Alessandro Volta). The University's Museum of Archeology was established by Pier Vittorio Aldini in 1819 and houses prehistoric, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan (including
3496-700: The Holy Roman Emperor had shifted to one between a French party (allied with the Pope) and a party supporting the Emperor and King of Spain Charles V . Thus, during the Valois - Habsburg Italian Wars , Pavia was naturally on the Imperial (and Spanish) side. The defeat and capture of King Francis I of France during the battle ushered in a period of Spanish occupation. In the same years, he studied at
3588-937: The Library of Science and Technology, where the library also merged of the Botanical Garden (established in 1773), the Law Library (1880), The Science Library, which also houses the volumes of the Medical and Surgical Society of Pavia (founded by Camillo Golgi in 1885), the Area Library Medica Adolfo Ferrata, the Political Science Library (built in 1925 ), the Economics Library and the Giasone del Maino College Library (born in 2000). Capital of
3680-534: The Middle Ages and the modern age without interruption, until about 1970. Pavia was important as a Military site ( near the city , in 271, the emperor Aurelian defeated the Juthungi ) because of the easy access to water communications (through the rivers Ticino and Po ) up to the Adriatic Sea and because of its defence structures. In 325 Martin of Tours came to Pavia as a child following his father,
3772-426: The Risorgimento museum, dedicating particular space to the social, economic and cultural life of Pavia between the 18th and 19th centuries, the collection of African objects collected by Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti during his explorations and the numismatic collection, which houses more than 50,000 coins, most of them belonging to Camillo Brambilla, which cover a chronological period between the classical Greek issues and
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3864-430: The Romans, before human settlement. In Roman times, Pavia was called Ticinum . It began to be called Papia , whence Pavia , only since Lombard times, one of the very few Roman municipia in Italy that changed their names during the early Middle Ages . The origin of the modern name is still uncertain today. Dating back to pre-Roman times, the town of Pavia was said by Pliny the Elder to have been founded by
3956-404: The University of Pavia experienced a phase of great development: it began to attract students from both Italy and other European countries and taught teachers of great fame, such as Baldo degli Ubaldi , Lorenzo Valla or Giasone del Maino . The Battle of Pavia (1525) marked a watershed in the city's fortunes, since by that time, the former schism between the supporters of the Pope and those of
4048-420: The Visconteo Sforzesca Library, established in the second half of the fourteenth century by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in the Visconti Castle , where the precious illuminated manuscripts of the dukes of Milan were kept. In 1499, with the fall of Ludovico il Moro , the king of France Louis XII took most of the manuscripts from the castle and they are now kept in the Bibliothéque Nationale de France in Paris . Of
4140-531: The ancestral mortuary church of Canossa. For centuries, she was accorded almost the veneration of a founding patron saint at Polirone. Her body was transferred to the Basilica of St. Peter , Rome, in 1632. Polirone was one of the richest abbeys of northern Italy. In the 15th century, Guido Gonzaga, abbot in commendam , rebuilt the church in late Gothic style. The abbey church was rebuilt again to Renaissance style designs of Giulio Romano , in 1539-44, but some floor mosaics and sculptural details survive from
4232-431: The besiegers were unable to conquer the city. The Spanish period ended in 1706, when Pavia was occupied, after a short siege, by the Austrians led by Wirich Philipp von Daun during the War of the Spanish Succession and the city remained Austrian until 1796, when it was occupied by the French army under Napoleon . During this Austrian period the university was greatly supported by Maria Theresa of Austria and oversaw
4324-402: The building of the Certosa , built at the end of the Visconti Park, which connected the Certosa to the castle of Pavia. The church, the last edifice of the complex to be built, was to be the family mausoleum of the Visconti. In 1389, by the will of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, some families of German Jews settled in Pavia, mainly active in financial activities. The Jewish community of Pavia grew in
4416-451: The building of the Roman-styled amphitheatre and bath complex in Pavia; in the seventh century these would be among the few still functioning bath complexes in Europe outside of the Eastern Roman Empire . Near the end of Theoderic's reign the Christian philosopher Boethius was imprisoned in one of Pavia's churches from 522 to 525 before his execution for treason. It was during Boethius's captivity in Pavia that he wrote his seminal work
4508-421: The capital implies the residence of the royal court, the presence of the central administrative structure of the kingdom, and the city's pre-eminence over the other urban centres in the military organization of the seasonal wars. The city of Pavia played a key role in the war between the Lombard Kingdom of Pavia and the Franks led by Charlemagne. In 773, Charlemagne king of the Franks declared war and invaded across
4600-463: The capitulation of the Ostrogothic leadership in 540 more than a thousand men remained garrisoned in Pavia and Verona dedicated to opposing Eastern Roman rule. Since 540 Pavia became the permanent capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom , stable site of the court and the royal treasury. The resilience of Ostrogoth strongholds like Pavia against invading forces allowed pockets of Ostrogothic rule to limp along until finally being defeated in 561. Pavia and
4692-404: The church, and Paolo Veronese painted three altarpieces in 1562. In 1797, the abbey was secularized by Napoleonic rulers. Three cloisters, the free-standing great refectory (1478–79), the "new" infirmary (1584), and the abbey church are still present, and open to visitors. The contents of the library were added to the Library of Mantua. Three themed itineraries of the monastery, offered since
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#17327755477094784-491: The city has various heights. The highest point is located in the area of the Visconti Castle , about 80 m (260 ft) above sea level, and then slowly declines. From an altitude of 80 m (260 ft), you pass to 77 m (253 ft) in about 500 m (550 yd; 1,600 ft). Downstream from Piazza Vittoria, where the cardo and decumanus of the Roman city crossed, the slope becomes more pronounced, up to just under 60 m (200 ft) above sea level near
4876-399: The city on April 30, 1945. At the institutional referendum of 2 June 1946 Pavia assigned 67.1% of the votes to the Republic, while the monarchy obtained only 38.2%. The symbols of Pavia are the coat of arms, the banner and the seal, as reported in the municipal statute. The banner used by the modern city of Pavia faithfully reproduces the one used by the municipality of Pavia at least since
4968-446: The collections of zoology, comparative anatomy and paleontology. Then there is the Golgi Museum, located in the same environments in which both Camillo Golgi and his students worked, rooms and laboratories that preserve both the original furnishings and the scientific instruments of the time, in order to allow the visitor to enter inside a 19th-century research center; while the Museum of Electrical Technique, built in 2007, illustrates
5060-409: The command of one of his officers named Odoacer , rebelled and killed Orestes in the city of Pavia in 476. The rioting that took place as part of Odoacer's uprising against Orestes sparked fires that burnt much of Pavia to the point that Odoacer, as the new king of Italy, had to suspend the taxes for the city for five years so that it could finance its recovery. Without his father, Romulus Augustulus
5152-435: The earlier church. The wall and vaults were extensively frescoed, by Antonio da Correggio and Antonio Begarelli , among others. Funding for reconstruction was posthumously granted by two main donors: Lucrezia Pico della Mirandola, sister of the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola , greeted by the monastic community as a "new Matilda"; and Cesare d'Arsago. Thirty-one figures by Antonio Begarelli of Modena were provided for
5244-449: The first steamships began to operate in the Pavia dock and, between 1854 and 1859, the Österreichischer Lloyd organized a regular navigation line, again using steamships, between Pavia, Venice and Trieste . With the Second War of Italian Independence (1859) and the unification of Italy one year later, Pavia passed, together with the rest of Lombardy, to the Kingdom of Italy . In 1894 Albert Einstein 's father moved to Pavia to start
5336-400: The fortified city of Pavia. Paul the Deacon 's History of the Lombards written more than a hundred years after the Siege of Ticinum provides one of the few records of this period: "The city of Ticinum (Pavia) at this time held out bravely, withstanding a siege more than three years, while the army of the Langobards remained close at hand on the western side. Meanwhile, Alboin, after driving out
5428-406: The history of electrical technology within five sections. Then come the Museum of Chemistry, that of Physics and the Museum of Mineralogy, founded by Lazzaro Spallanzani. Next to the Cathedral , inside the crypt of the ancient cathedral of Santa Maria del Popolo (11th century), is the Diocesan Museum of Pavia , inaugurated in 2023, which collects silverware and liturgical objects (among which
5520-404: The kingdom's capital, Pavia in the late seventh century also became one of the central locations of the Lombards' efforts to mint their own coinage. The bust of the Lombard king would have been etched on the coins as a symbolic gesture so that those who used the coins, mostly Lombard nobles, would understand that king had the ultimate power and control of wealth in the Kingdom of Pavia. The role of
5612-430: The lectures in the school of Pavia. In 924, the Hungarians, led by the deposed Lombard king, Berengar I , besieged but did not conquer the city. With Otto II Pavia become the stable site of the court, first with queen Adelaide of Italy and then with the wife of Otto II Theophanum . During the Ottonian period Pavia enjoyed a period of well-being and development. The ancient Lombard capital distinguished itself from
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#17327755477095704-426: The lower Ticino near its confluence with the Po . It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major political centre in the medieval period, being the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom from 540 to 553, of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774, of the Kingdom of Italy from 774 to 1024 and seat of the Visconti court from 1365 to 1413. Pavia is the capital of the fertile province of Pavia , which
5796-545: The main residence for the Lombard rulers. Under Lombard rule many monasteries, nunneries, and churches were built at Pavia by the devout Christian Lombard monarchs. Even though the first Lombard kings were Arian Christians, sources from the period such as Paul the Deacon have recorded that the Arian Lombards were very tolerant of their Catholic subjects' faith and that up to the 690s Arian and Catholic cathedrals coexisted in Pavia. Lombard kings, queens, and nobles would engage in building churches, monasteries, and nunneries as
5888-469: The millennium celebration of 2007, concentrate on aspects of the cloistered life at Polirone: "Land and daily bread", "Herbs and monks", and "Prayer and reading". 45°02′32″N 10°55′43″E / 45.04222°N 10.92861°E / 45.04222; 10.92861 Tedald of Canossa Tedald (died 1012), of the House of Canossa , was the count of Brescia from 980, Modena , Ferrara , and Reggio from 981, and Mantua from 1006. He used
5980-541: The minting of the modern period. The Pinacoteca Malaspina (which is part of the Pavia Civic Museums) established by the Marquis Luigi Malaspina di Sannazzaro (Pavia 1754– 1834), houses works by important artists of the Italian and international scene, from the 13th to the 20th century, such as Gentile da Fabriano , Vincenzo Foppa , Giovanni Bellini , Antonello da Messina , Bernardino Luini , Correggio , Paolo Veronese , Guido Reni , Francesco Hayez , Giovanni Segantini and Renato Gottuso . The monumental wooden model of
6072-739: The most important of its kind in Italy, preserves collections of documentary material (manuscripts, typescripts, letters, first editions, libraries, photographs, drawings, furnishings, paintings and other objects) relating to writers, intellectuals, publishers, artists and scientists of the past two centuries. Among the archival collections preserved we remember those of Alberto Arbasino , Riccardo Bacchelli , Romano Bilenchi , Emilio De Marchi , Ennio Flaiano , Alfonso Gatto , Tonino Guerra , Claudio Magris , Luigi Meneghello , Eugenio Montale , Indro Montanelli , Salvatore Quasimodo , Mario Rigoni Stern , Amelia Rosselli , Umberto Saba and Roberto Sanesi. The library tradition of Pavia among its origins from
6164-435: The nearly one thousand manuscripts that made up the library, only one codex remained in Pavia: I Trionfi di Francesco Petrarca kept in the Biblioteca Universitaria. In the second half of the 16th century, three historic libraries arose in the city: that of the Episcopal Seminary and the libraries of the Borromeo and Ghislieri Colleges, founded respectively by Charles Borromeo and Pope Pius V to allow access to
6256-440: The other cities of the Po Valley for its fundamental function as a crossroads of important trade, both in foodstuffs and in luxury items. Commercial traffic was favored above all by the waterways used by the emperor for his travels: from Ticino the Po was easily reached, a direct axis with the Adriatic Sea and maritime traffic. Furthermore, with the advent of the Ottoni, Milan again lost importance in favor of Pavia, whose pre-eminence
6348-439: The other to Valentia – and thence to Augusta Taurinorum ( Turin ). The town was built on flatted ground with square blocks. The " cardo Maximus " road corresponded to the current Strada Nuova up to the Roman bridge while the " decumanus " road corresponded to corso Cavour-corso Mazzini. Under most of the streets of the historic center there are still the brick ducts of the Roman sewer system which continued to function throughout
6440-419: The papers of Cesare Mori . Also preserved in the archive are the acts of the notaries of Pavia (1256–1907), the maps of the Teresian Cadastre of the Pavia area (18th–19th centuries), and the archives of the university (1341–1897), of the San Matteo Hospital (1063–1900), the Prefecture, the Police Headquarters and the Court. Equally important is the Archivio Storico Diocesano, which houses the documentation of
6532-531: The paving stones that compose the cathedral's floor. Liutprand was a very devout Christian and like many of the Lombard kings was zealous about collecting relics of saints. Liutprand paid a great deal to have the relics removed from Cagliari and brought to Pavia so that they would be out of the reach and safe from the Saracens on Sardinia where St. Augustine's remains had been resting. Very little of Liutprand's original church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro consecrated by Pope Zacharias in 743 remains today. Originally
6624-522: The peninsula of Italy did not remain long under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire, for in 568 CE a new people invaded Italy: the Lombards (otherwise called the Longobards). In their invasion of Italy in 568, the Lombards were led by their king Alboin (r. 560–572), who would become the first Lombard king of Italy. Alboin captured much of northern Italy in 568 but his progress was halted in 569 by
6716-544: The place upon where the Lombard Kingdom in Italy ended. Upon entering Pavia in triumph, Charlemagne crowned himself king of the lands of the former Kingdom of Pavia. The Lombard kingdom and its northern territories from then onwards were a sub-kingdom of the Frankish Empire, while the Lombard southern duchy of Benevento persisted for several centuries longer with relative independence and autonomy. There
6808-401: The previous emperor, Julius Nepos , and raised the young Romulus Augustulus to the imperial throne at Ravenna in 475. Though being the emperor, Romulus Augustulus was simply the mouthpiece for his father Orestes, who was the person who actually exercised power and governed Italy during Romulus Augustulus' short reign. Ten months after Romulus Augustulus's reign began, Orestes's soldiers under
6900-431: The regency of Galeazzo II and Gian Galeazzo the memory of the capital's role and the Lombard traditions of Pavia jointly entered the "propaganda" of the new masters of Pavia: Galeazzo II moved his court from Milan to Pavia and between 1361 and 1365 Galeazzo II built a large palace ( Visconti castle ) with a major Park ( Visconti Park ), which became the official residence of the dynasty. In 1396 Gian Galeazzo commissioned
6992-520: The region, in stone, brick and lime. In Pavia, Ibrāhīm al-Turtuši, was very impressed by the equestrian statue of Regisole , which he places near one of the doors of the Royal palace and by the 300 jurists working inside the palace. Also at the turn of the tenth and eleventh centuries, the city was the birthplace of Liutprand of Cremona , bishop, chronicler and diplomat in the service of Berengar II first and then of Otto I and Otto II and of Lanfranc ,
7084-502: The river Ticinum, on his way to search for Hannibal , who was rumoured to have managed to lead an army over the Alps and into Italy. The forces of Rome and Carthage ran into each other soon thereafter, and the Romans suffered the first of many crushing defeats at the hands of Hannibal, with the consul himself almost losing his life. The bridge was destroyed, but the fortified camp, which at
7176-507: The roof of its apse was decorated with mosaics, making San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro the first instance of mosaics being used to decorate a Lombard church. It is now a modern church with the only significant link to its antiquity being its round apse. The Lombards built their churches in a very Romanesque style, with the best example of Lombard churches from the period of Lombardic rule being the Basilica of San Michele still intact at Pavia. As
7268-406: The so-called " Karst spring 's belt", where there is the meeting, in the subsoil, between geological layers with different permeability, an aspect that allows the deep waters to resurface on the surface. The fluvial terrace on which Pavia stands appears engraved by two deep furrows due to the erosive action of two postglacial rivers, represented today by the Navigliaccio (originally occupied by
7360-412: The soldiers, took possession of everything as far as Tuscany except Rome and Ravenna and some other fortified places which were situated on the shore of the sea." The Siege of Ticinum finally ended with the Lombards capturing the city of Pavia in 572. Pavia's strategic location and the Ostrogoth palaces located within it would make Pavia by the 620s the main capital of the Lombards' Kingdom of Pavia and
7452-521: The thousand faces of this cereal. such as the Carthusian risotto, according to the legend created by the monks of the Certosa , based on crayfishes , carrots and onions, risotto with eye beans or the one with sausage and bonarda and risotto with common hops (ürtis in pavese dialect). Among the first courses, in addition to rice, the pavese soup also stands out, created, according to tradition, by
7544-610: The time was the most forward Roman military outpost in the Po Valley , somehow survived the long Second Punic War , and gradually evolved into a garrison town. Its importance grew with the extension of the Via Aemilia from Ariminum (Rimini) to the river Po (187 BCE), which it crossed at Placentia ( Piacenza ) and there forked, one branch going to Mediolanum ( Milan ) and the other to Ticinum, and thence to Laumellum where it divided once more, one branch going to Vercellae – and thence to Eporedia and Augusta Praetoria – and
7636-490: The title of margrave because of his vast comital holdings and their frontier nature. His family's seat was Canossa and he was the son of Adalbert Azzo of Canossa who had supported Otto I against Berengar of Ivrea and Adalbert of Ivrea . His rise was largely due to his loyalty to the Ottonian Dynasty . He opposed his fellow Margrave Arduin of Ivrea in his bid for the Italian crown in 1002. He accompanied
7728-646: The tombs of kings or queens. Then there is the Romanesque and Renaissance section which exhibits sculptural, architectural and mosaic. The Romanesque collection is very rich, one of the largest in northern Italy, which also preserves important oriental architectural dishes from the Islamic and Byzantine East that adorned the facades of churches and buildings. Works by Jacopino da Tradate , Giovanni Antonio Amadeo , Cristoforo and Antonio Mantegazza and Annibale Fontana are also exhibited. The Civic Museums also house
7820-566: The well known Certosa di Pavia . The municipality of Pavia is part of the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino (a Nature reserve included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves ) and preserves two forests ( Strict nature reserve Bosco Siro Negri and Bosco Grande nature reserve ) that they show us the original state of the nature of the Po valley before the arrival of
7912-536: The works on the Naviglio Pavese were completed: the canal, conceived as a waterway between Milan, Pavia and Ticino and as an irrigation canal, contributed to the development of the city, so much so that a few years after its construction, in 1821, Borgo Calvenzano was built behind the Visconti Castle , a long series of arcaded buildings where there were warehouses, taverns, shipping and customs offices, hotels, stables, all in support of inland navigation. In 1820
8004-786: The world ), which together with the IUSS (Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia), Ghislieri College , Borromeo College , Nuovo College, Santa Caterina College, and the Istituto per il Diritto allo Studio (EDiSU), belongs to the Pavia Study System. The 15th-century Policlinico San Matteo is one of the most important hospitals in Italy. Pavia is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Pavia . The city possesses many artistic and cultural treasures, including several important churches and museums , such as
8096-469: Was attempting to reassert long-dormant Imperial influence over Italy. Frederick I celebrated two coronations in Pavia (1155 and 1162) in the basilica of San Michele Maggiore and resieded in a new imperial palace near the royal monastery of St. Salvatore . Several times the Pavia army fought with the emperor against the forces of the Lombard League , participating in the sieges of Tortona , Crema and Milan and in other military operations. The city also had
8188-436: Was commissioned by king Liutprand (r. 712–744) and it would become the site of his tomb as well as two other famous Christian figures. In building San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro the unit of measurement used by the builders was the length of Liutprand's royal foot. The first important Christian figure interred at San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro was the previously mentioned philosopher Boethius, author of The Consolation of Philosophy , who
8280-613: Was occupied by the German army. In September 1944, the US air forces carried out several bombings on the city with the aim of destroying the three bridges over the Ticino, strategic for supplying men. Weapons and provisions the German units engaged along the Gothic line . These operations led to the destruction of the Ponte Coperto and resulted in the deaths of 119 civilians. Allied troops entered
8372-535: Was powerless. Instead of killing Romulus Augustulus, Odoacer pensioned him off at 6,000 solidi a year before declaring the end of the Western Roman Empire and himself king of the new Kingdom of Italy. Odoacer's reign as king of Italy did not last long, because in 488 the Ostrogothic peoples led by their king Theoderic invaded Italy and waged war against Odoacer. After fighting for 5 years, Theoderic defeated Odoacer and on March 15, 493, assassinated Odoacer at
8464-474: Was sanctioned, among other things, by the minting of the Pavia mint. The importance of the city in those centuries is also highlighted by the account of the Arab geographer Ibrāhīm al-Turtuši, who traveled to central-western Europe between 960 and 965 and visited Verona, Rocca di Garda and Pavia, which he defined the main city of Longobardia, very populous, rich in merchants and entirely built, unlike other centers in
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