178 Route 28.
PAVIA.
From Milan
Pavia. — Crock Bianca (PL a; B. 4), B^ 4, D. 5, B. 272, S. 4-,
L. 1, omnibus 1 fr.; Lombardia (PL b; B, 3); Tre Re (PI. c; B, 5). —
Cafi Demetrio, Corso Vittorio Emmanuele.
Cab per drive 80 c, per hour 172fr. — Omnibus to the town 25 c
The names of many of the streets have been altered recently; the
old names are generally given in red lettering below the new.
Pavia, with 30,000 inhab., capital of the province of the same
name, situated near the confluence of the Ticino and the Po, the
Ticinum of the ancients, subsequently Papla, was also known as
the Citth di Cento Torri from its numerous towers, of which only a
few still exist. In the middle ages it was the faithful ally of the
German emperors, until it was subjugated by the Milanese, and it
is still partly surrounded by the walls and fortifications of that
period. A visit to the town requires about 3 hours.
Leaving the railway-station, we enter the Corso Cavour (PL
A, 4) through the Porta Borgorato or Marengo (in a wall to the
right is the statue of a Roman magistrate), and following the Via
Jacopo Brossolaro to the right reach the Piazza del Duomo.
The Cathedral (PL 4; B, 4), rising on the site of an ancient
basilica, begun in accordance with a design by Bramante, and con¬
tinued by Cristoforo Rocchi in 1486, but never completed, is a vast
circular structure with four arms.
In the Interior, on the right, is the sumptuous "Area di S. Agostino,
adorned with 290 figures (of saints, and allegorical), begun, it is supposed,
in 1362 by Bonino da Campiglione, by whom the figures on the tombs of
the Scaliger family at Verona (p. 201) were executed. To the right
of the entrance is a wooden model of the church as originally projected.
The gateway to the left of the church is in the late-Romanesque
style. Adjoining it rises a massive Campanile, begun in 1583.
We may now proceed to the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele, a street
intersecting the town in a straight direction from N. to S., from the
Porta di Milano to the Porta Ticinese , and leading to the covered
Bridge (14th cent.; a pleasant promenade with picturesque view)
over the Ticino, which is here navigated by barges and steamboats.
A chapel stands on the bridge, halfway across.
S. Michele (PL 7; B, 5), to which the third side-street to the
right leads (coming from the bridge), a Romanesque church errone¬
ously ascribed to the Lombard kings, belongs to the latter part of the
11th century.
The facade is adorned with numerous very ancient reliefs in sand¬
stone, in ribbon-like stripes, and a curious gabled gallery. The nave and
aisles are supported by eight pillars, from which rise double round arches.
The short choir, under which there is a crypt, terminates in an apse.
Over the centre of the transept rises a dome. The pillars of the nave
bear traces of ancient frescoes. The interior has lately been restored.
The traveller may now ascend the Corso Vitt. Emmanuele to the
University (PL 31 ; B, 4), founded in 1361 on the site of a school
of law, which had existed here since the 10th century. The build¬
ing is much handsomer than that of Padua; the quadrangles of the
interior are surrounded by handsome arcades and embellished with
numerous memorial-tablets, busts, and monuments of celebrated
Permalink: http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/ksfm0
