PAVIA (anc. Ticinum, q.v.), a town of Lombardy, Italy, capital of the province of Pavia, on the Ticino about 2 m. above its junction with the Po, 221 m. S. of Milan by rail, 253 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1931), 30,132 (town) ; 50,325 (com mune). On the right bank of the river lies the suburb of Borgo Ticino connected with the town by a covered bridge (I351-54). The bastions have been transformed into boulevards and gardens.
Monuments.—The church of San Michele Maggiore, originally constructed under the Lombard kings, was burnt in 1004, and the present building dates from the latter part of the irth and the first half of the 12th centuries, and was completed in 1155. The lower part of the façade is adorned with three fine portals and with reliefs in sandstone, and has arcading under the gable. The dome is octagonal. The interior is vaulted and has eight pillars and a mosaic pavement of the 12th or 13th centuries.
The cathedral of San Martino, begun in 1488 by Cristoforo Rocchi, is a vast "central" structure, unfinished until the dome and facade were completed in 5898 according to Rocchi's still extant model. The church of S. Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, which as it stands was consecrated in 1532, is very similar to S. Michele. The Lombard king Liutprand (755-744), whose bones were found in 1896, was buried here. In 1923 the remains of Boethius were also placed here. The Arca di S. Agostino (after 1362) is a sumptuous tomb containing the relics of S. Augustine of Hippo.
The church of S. Maria del Carmine is externally one of the most beautiful brick Gothic churches in northern Italy. S. Fran cesco has a facade after that of Chiaravalle near Milan. The church of S. Maria di Canepanova with its small dome was de signed by Bramante. Near it are three tall, slender brick towers of the Gothic period. S. Teodoro, with a 12th century exterior, has frescoes by Bartolommeo Suardi (Bramantino) after 1507. Outside the town lie the churches of S. Salvatore and of S. Lanfranco Beccari (d. 1189) (12th century) with the saint's tomb by Giovanni Antonio Amedeo (1447-1522), a native of Pavia.
The university was refounded by Galeazzo II. in 1361 on the site of a law school probably founded by Lanfranc, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1089), though we find Pavia a
centre of study as early as A.D. 825, and it duly celebrated its tooth anniversary in 1925. The present imposing building was begun by Lodovico il Moro in 1490. In the library are preserved some of the ashes of Columbus, who was a student here. Volta made here his first electrical experiments. For poor students there are two colleges, the Borromeo and the Ghislieri founded by S. Carlo Borromeo (1563) and Pope Pius V. (1569).
Pavia has iron-foundries and artificial silk and other factories. It is also an important agricultural centre. It lies on the main line from Milan to Genoa (which crosses the Po by a bridge half a mile long), with several branch lines. Barges pass down the Po to the Adriatic or to Milan by canal. Five miles N. of Pavia is the Carthusian monastery of Certosa di Pavia, one of the most magnificent in the world. Its founder Gian Galeazzo Vis conti laid the first stone in August 1396, and the nave was then begun in the Gothic style, but was not completed until 1465. The rest of the church with its external arcaded galleries and lofty pinnacles (including the fine dome) and the cloisters were ex ecuted in the Renaissance style under Guiniforte Solari (1453-81) with details in terra-cotta of great beauty and richness. Giovanni Antonio Amedeo was chief architect in 1481-99, and the lower part of the façade was finished in 1507. It is perhaps the finest piece of elaborate and richly adorned Renaissance architecture in existence. In the south transept of the church is the tomb of the founder. In the north transept is the tomb of Lodovico Sforza, il Moro and his wife by Cristoforo Solari. An elegant portal leads into the small cloister; the terra-cotta ornaments surmounting the slender marble pillars are the work of Rinaldo de Stauris (1463-78), who executed similar decorations in the great cloister. This cloister is 412 ft. long by 334 ft. wide and contains 24 cells of the monks, little three-roomed houses each with its own garden. Within the confines of the monastery is the Palazzo Ducale which since 1901 has been occupied by the Certosa museum.