Pavia

Capital of Pavia province in Lombardy region, northern Italy, on the River Ticino, 30 km/19 mi south of Milan; population (1998 est) 78,300. Pavia is a university town, and an agricultural and industrial centre; sewing machines are manufactured here. It has ancient walls, a cathedral (begun in 1488, completed in 1898), a 14th-century castle of the ruling Visconti family, and a university said to have been founded by Charlemagne, but formally constituted in 1361. The Certosa di Pavia Monastery is 8 km/5 mi to the north.

The Habsburg emperor Charles V defeated Francis I of France here in 1525 (see Pavia, Battle of).

History Founded by the Ligurii, Pavia was an important military camp under the Romans, and later became the capital of the Lombards until it was taken by Charlemagne in 774. Church councils were held here in 1081, 1160, and 1423. The kings of Italy (6th-11th centuries) and various Holy Roman emperors were crowned here in the basilica of San Michele. In 1359 it was taken by the Visconti, and in 1500 by the French. Annexed by Austria in 1714, the town was pillaged by Napoleon in 1796; it became part of united Italy in 1859.