THE CITY OF PAVIA

 

Some thirty-five miles south of Milan lays the city of Pavia, ancient Ticinum.   The Romans called the whole area Ticinum Papiae, which in Italian became Ticino and Pavia. Ticino is a river and Pavia the town. The river runs through a part of the town and intersects with the Po River some fifty-miles south. When under the Roman dominance it was an important military site. Historians indicate that the end of the Roman Empire in the West began here with the defeat of Flavius Orestes by Odoacer, the chieftain of a number of German tribes: the Heruli, Sciri, and Rugii. 

These tribes were mercenaries in the service of Rome who were under Orestes’ command along with Roman soldiers. There were disagreements amongst the soldiers and their commanders. The soldiers switched their allegiance to Odoacer and he led them in a revolt; thereby, killing Orestes. The soldiers then proclaimed Odoacer as Rex Italiae, the king of Italy. He then laid siege to Ravenna, the new Roman capital and deposed the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, who was the son of Orestes.

During the revolt the citizens of Pavia sided with Orestes, and in revenge Odoacer destroyed the city. It wasn’t long before he had to do battle again to maintain his position. Theodoric, a Goth, engaged Odoacer a number of times, the last time at the siege of Ravenna in 492. Theodoric was able to block the cities only source of survival—its Adriatic seaport. The city’s bishop negotiated a treaty and organized a banquet to celebrate the end of the hostilities. But Theodoric, in a toast to Odoacer, killed him. Then his men massacred his soldiers and supporters. Theodoric was now master of Italy.

Under the reign of the Goths, Pavia became their citadel toward the end of their control. It was their last stronghold in their wars with Balisarius, a general of the Byzantine Empire (505-565), who fought to reunite the West with the Eastern Roman Empire. In Northern Italy, the Lombards (the long beards), a Germanic tribe, originally from Scandinavia, migrated to Pannonia, modern day Hungary. However, in and around 569, they migrated en masse to Italy and conquered any remaining Goths. They established a kingdom which grew in size and strength to cover almost all of Italy. Today a large part of northern Italy is the region of Lombardia, named after the Lombards.

In 773 at another the battle in Pavia, Charlemagne triumphed and established it as the capital of his Regnum Italicum, a vassal kingdom of the Holy Roman Empire. In the twelfth century it became a self-governing city-state. In 1359, it yielded to the Visconti family of Milan and they ruled until 1525, when it came under Spanish rule; later Austrian rule, Napoleonic rule and then back to Austrian rule. Finally in 1859, it became a part of unified Italy.

Today, Pavia is a bustling town with many ancient buildings some are: Il Duomo, begun in 1488 and just recently finished. The Church of San Michele Maggiore, The Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel D’Oro (ceiling of gold), Il Castello Visconteo, Santa Maria Del Carmine, and many other art treasures and towers.  All of these were built during the Renaissance period1100-1699 AD. (In regard to towers also see article on Skyscrapers of Middle Age Italy)

The most famous landmark is La Certosa de Pavia, a Carthusian monastery. The beauty of this place is difficult to describe as well as all the other sites, but this one stands out from the rest since it is still a monastery and fully intact. The origins of this monastery date back to 1390 AD, when Catherine Visconti, the wife and cousin of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, made a bequest in her will that a monastery for the Carthusian monks be built in the Pavia region. At the time she made the bequest she was pregnant and asked her husband to fulfill her vow if she died during childbirth. She did not die; nevertheless, they began building it in August of that year. A visit to the monastery will clearly show why it took until 1507, to complete. The church and façade dazzle the eyes when one tries to perceive all that is there. It is full of decorative sculptures, carvings and reliefs of many inlaid marble patterns.

The monastery covers acres of land with a thirty-foot wall surrounding the whole complex. One enters by gate going through a large reception building leading into a courtyard with buildings on both sides into the church. The inside of the church is as dazzling as the outside with all of its crypts, statues, and adornments. The Carthusian practices allow for hermitage, and part of the complex has a large rectangular area consisting of a few acres of land. Surrounding this plot of land is twenty-one small two story cabins attached to each other like row houses. Each has a fireplace, small eating area, courtyard and sleeping quarters for the hermits. The doors to each have a shelf in the upper part and a small door for the hermit to open to retrieve any items placed on the shelf. The occupants take a vow of silence and isolation from human contact.  Below is a close up of the façade, a distant shot of the façade and the Grand Cloister with hermit quarters in the background.