LODI, town and episcopal see of Piedmont, Italy, province of Milan, 202 m. by rail S.E. of Milan, on a hill above the right bank of the Adda, 23o ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1931) 31,092 (the town and commune). The city is on an eminence rising very gradually from a very rich dairy district. The cathedral (1158), with Gothic façade and 16th-century lateral tower, has a restored interior. The church of the Incoronata, erected by Battaggio (1487 onwards) in Bramantesque style, is an elegant octagonal domed structure, decorated with frescoes by the Piazza family, natives of the town, and four large altar-pieces by Calisto Piazza. The 13th-century Gothic church of San Francesco, has 14th-century paintings. The Palazzo Modegnani has a fine gateway in the style of Bramante, and the hospital a cloistered quadrangle. Besides an extensive trade in cheese (Lodi producing more Par mesan than Parma itself) and other dairy produce, there are manufactures of hemp ropes, linen, silk, majolica and chemicals.
The ancient Laus Pompeia lay 32 m. W. and the site is still occupied by a considerable village, Lodi Vecchio, with the old cathedral of S. Bassiano. In the middle ages Lodi was second to
Milan in northern Italy. A dispute with the archbishop of Milan about the investiture of the bishop of Lodi (1024) began a long feud. In IIII and again in 1158 the Milanese laid the whole place in ruins. A number of the Lodigians had settled on Colle Eghezzone; and their village soon grew up under the patronage of Frederick Barbarossa into a new city of Lodi (1162). Lodi was before long compelled to enter the Lombard League, and in 1198 it formed an offensive and defensive alliance with Milan, on which after 1416 it became dependent. The duke of Brunswick captured it in 1625 in the interests of Spain; and it was occupied by the French 0700, by the Austrians (1706), by the king of Sardinia (1733), by the Austrians (1736), by the Spaniards (1745), and again by the Austrians (1746). On May io, 1796, was fought the battle of Lodi between the Austrians and Napo leon, which made the latter master of Lombardy.