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ART
Pavia is full of art and history. To let you know the charm of our town, we show below some of the main symbols of Pavia.
Cathedral of Pavia
 Ponte Coperto and Cathedral Cathedral of Pavia (Duomo di Pavia), begun in 1488; however, only by 1898 were the façade and the dome completed according to the original design.
The central dome has an octagonal plan, stands 97 m high, and weighs some 20.000 tons. This dome is the third for size in Italy, after St. Peter’s Basilica and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Next to the Duomo were the Civic Towers (existing at least from 1330 and enlarged in 1583 by Pellegrino Tibaldi): its fall on March 17, 1989, was the final motivating force that started the last decade's efforts to save the Leaning Tower of Pisa from a similar fate.
Medieval Towers
The medieval towers still shape the town skyline. The main clusters still rising are rallied in Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, Via Luigi Porta, and Piazza Collegio Borromeo.
Visconti Castle
The large fortified Visconti Castle (Castello Visconteo) was built in 1360-1365 by Galeazzo II Visconti. In spite of its being fortified, it actually was used as a private residence rather than a stronghold.
The poet Francesco Petrarca spent some time there, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti called him to take charge of the magnificent library which owned about a thousand books and manuscripts, subsequentely lost.
The Castle is now home to the City Museums (Musei Civici) and the park is a popular attraction for children. An unconfirmed legend wants the Castle to be connected by a secret underground tunnel to the Certosa.
Certosa
Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Grace, is a monastery and complex in Lombardy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia, 8 km north of Pavia. Built in 1396-1495, it was once located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan, of which today only scattered parts remain.
Certosa is the Italian name for a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians founded by St. Bruno in 1044 at Grande Chartreuse. Though the Carthusians in their early centuries were known for their seclusion and asceticism and the plainness of their architecture, the Certosa is renowned for the exuberance of its architecture, in both the Gothic and Renaissance styles, and for its collection of artworks which are particularly representative of the region.
St. Michael
St. Michael (San Michele Maggiore) is an outstanding example of Lombard-Romanesque church architecture in Lombardy. It is located on the site of a pre-existing Lombard church, which the lower part of the campanile belongs to.
Destroyed in 1004, the church was rebuilt from around the end of the 11th century (including the crypt, the transept and the choir), and finished in 1155. It is characterized by an extensive use of sandstone and by a very long transept, provided with a façade and an apse of its own. In the church the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was crowned in 1155.
Ponte Coperto
The Ponte Coperto "covered bridge" is a brick and stone arch bridge over the Ticino River in Pavia. The previous bridge, dating from 1354 (itself a replacement for a Roman construction), was heavily damaged by Allied action in 1945. A debate on whether to fix or replace the bridge ended when the bridge partially collapsed in 1947, requiring new construction, which began in 1949.
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