Pavia

Pavia is the capital of a fertile province known for agricultural products including wine, rice, cereals, and dairy products.
Pavia date back to pre-Roman times, the town of Pavia was a municipality and an important military site under the Roman Empire.

In Pavia, in 476 A.D., Odoacer defeated Flavius Orestes after a long siege. To punish the city for helping the rival, Odoacer destroyed it completely. However, Orestes was able to escape to Piacenza, where Odoacer followed and killed him.

Why I’m telling you this? Because was commonly considered the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Under the Goths, Pavia became a fortified citadel but the Lombard conquest, Pavia became the capital of their kingdom (568-774).
Pavia remained the capital of the Italian Kingdom and the center of royal coronations until the diminution of imperial authority there in the twelfth century.

In 1004 A.D. Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor bloody suppressed a revolt of the citizens of Pavia, who disputed his recent crowning as King of Italy. In the following centuries Pavia was an important and active town.

Pavia held out against the domination of Milan, finally yielding to the Visconti family, rulers of that city in 1359 A.D.

Under the Visconti Pavia became an intellectual and artistic center, 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.

The Battle of Pavia in 1525 A.D. marks a point in the city’s fortunes, since by that time, the former cleavage between the supporters of the Pope and those of the Emperor.

In 1815, it again passed under Austrian administration until the Second War of Italian Independence in 1859.

Posted on May 1, 2010

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