Pavia

• 1. Roman Camp And Military Bridge

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  In 218 BCE, the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio ordered a small military camp built on levelled ground near the river Ticino. This fortified position guarded a wooden bridge he had constructed to search for Hannibal, who was rumoured to have led an army over the Alps into Italy. The forces of Rome and Carthage soon clashed nearby, resulting in crushing defeats for the Romans and nearly costing Scipio his life. Although the wooden bridge was destroyed during these early conflicts, the fortified camp survived the long Second Punic War. It gradually evolved from a temporary garrison into a permanent Roman municipality known as Ticinum. By 187 BCE, the extension of the Via Aemilia road connected Ariminum to the river Po, creating a fork that directed traffic toward both Mediolanum and Ticinum. The town sat at the intersection of major trade routes leading to Vercellae, Eporedia, and Augusta Taurinorum. Underneath the modern streets of the historic center lie brick ducts from the original Roman sewer system that functioned without interruption until about 1970. The city served as the most forward Roman military outpost in the Po Valley, providing easy access to water communications through the rivers Ticino and Po up to the Adriatic Sea.

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• 2. Ostrogothic Resistance And Siege

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  After the Eastern Roman general Belisarius defeated the Ostrogothic leader Wittigis in 540, more than a thousand men remained garrisoned in Pavia dedicated to opposing Eastern Roman rule. Since 540, the city became the permanent capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, serving as the stable site for the court and royal treasury. The resilience of this stronghold allowed pockets of Ostrogoth rule to continue until finally being defeated in 561. In 568 CE, the Lombards invaded Italy under their king Alboin, who would become the first Lombard king of Italy. Alboin captured much of northern Italy but his progress halted in 569 at the fortified city of Pavia. Paul the Deacon's History of the Lombards records that the city held out bravely, withstanding a siege lasting more than three years while the army of the Langobards remained close on the western side. The siege ended when the Lombards captured Pavia in 572. Following this victory, the strategic location and existing Ostrogoth palaces made Pavia by the 620s the main capital of the Lombard Kingdom. The city served as the primary residence for Lombard rulers and housed the central administrative structure of the kingdom.

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• 3. Lombard Kings And Religious Building

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  Under Lombard rule, devout Christian monarchs built numerous monasteries, nunneries, and churches to demonstrate piety and wealth. Even though the first Lombard kings were Arian Christians, sources like Paul the Deacon recorded that Arian and Catholic cathedrals coexisted in Pavia up to the 690s. King Grimoald ruled from 662 to 671 and built San Ambrogio in Pavia, burying himself there after his death in 671. Aripert I commissioned the basilica of Santissimo Salvatore in 657, which became the mausoleum of the kings of the Bavarian dynasty. Perctarit and his son Cunicpert constructed a nunnery and church during their respective reigns between 661 and 700. Liutprand, who reigned from 712 to 744, commissioned the building of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro. This church would become the site of his tomb and the resting place of two other significant Christian figures. The unit of measurement used by builders was the length of Liutprand's royal foot. In 743, Pope Zacharias consecrated the original church, which featured mosaics on its apse roof, marking the first instance of such decoration in a Lombard church.

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• 4. Imperial Coronations And Guelph Wars

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  Pavia remained the capital of the Italian Kingdom and the center for royal coronations until imperial authority diminished in the 12th century. Holy Roman Emperor Henry II bloodily suppressed a revolt of citizens in 1004 following his recent coronation as King of Italy. In 1056, rivalry between Pavia and Milan turned into war that continued with changing fortunes, including the Battle of Campomorto in 1061. Frederick I celebrated two coronations in Pavia in 1155 and 1162 within the basilica of San Michele Maggiore. He resided in a new imperial palace near the royal monastery of St. Salvatore during these events. The city supported Emperor Frederick II against the Lombard League, and the Pavese army participated in numerous operations in service of the emperor. They took part in the battle of Cortenuova in 1237. During conflicts between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII, imperial-loyal bishops organized a council in Pavia in 1076 where Pope Gregory VII was excommunicated. In the political division between Guelphs and Ghibellines, Pavia traditionally held the Ghibelline position, defying Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's attempts to reassert Imperial influence over Italy.

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• 5. Visconti Courts And University Foundations

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  Pavia finally yielded to the Visconti family rulers of Milan in 1359 after a difficult siege. Under their rule, the city became an intellectual and artistic center from 1361 onward when the University of Pavia was founded around the nucleus of the old school of law. Galeazzo II moved his court from Milan to Pavia and built a large palace known as the Visconti castle between 1361 and 1365. This structure included a major park that became the official residence of the dynasty. Gian Galeazzo commissioned the building of the Certosa monastery at the end of the Visconti Park in 1396. The church served as the family mausoleum of the Visconti. In 1389, families of German Jews settled in Pavia under the will of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, mainly active in financial activities. The Jewish community grew in the 15th century with figures like Joseph Colon Trabotto, considered Italy's foremost Judaic scholar of his era. A Hebrew course was activated in the university in 1490. During this period, the university attracted students from both Italy and other European countries while teaching famous teachers such as Baldo degli Ubaldi and Lorenzo Valla.

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• 6. Scientific Legacy And Modern History

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  During the Austrian period, the university received great support from Maria Theresa of Austria and oversaw a culturally rich period due to leading scientists like Alessandro Volta and Camillo Golgi. In 1771, Lazzaro Spallanzani founded the Natural History Museum of Pavia, which preserves nearly 400,000 finds divided between zoology, comparative anatomy, and paleontology collections. The University History Museum houses the physics cabinet of Alessandro Volta containing hundreds of scientific instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries. Camillo Golgi established the Science Library and Medical Society in 1885, creating a center for medical research. In 1894, Albert Einstein's father moved to Pavia to start a business supplying electrical materials. The Einsteins lived in Palazzo Cornazzani, where Ugo Foscolo and Ada Negri had also resided. Young Albert visited the family several times between 1895 and 1896, writing an essay titled On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field during his time in Italy. In September 1944, US air forces carried out bombings on the city targeting three bridges over the Ticino river. These operations destroyed the Ponte Coperto bridge and resulted in the deaths of 119 civilians before Allied troops entered the city on the 30th of April 1945.

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