Pavia's venerable university is one of the oldest in Europe and is still a thriving seat of learning. Architects Piermarini (author of La Scala) and Pollack had a hand in its neoclassical restoration under Austrian rule, and it is this structure that remains today. Within the stately campus it's possible to visit the small university museum, which tells the story of the institute's long history and harbours grisly relics like the preserved head of pioneering anatomist Antonio Scarpa.
Museo per la Storia dell'Università di Pavia
Pavia
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1. Università degli Studi di Pavia
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The University of Pavia was established in 1361 by Galeazzo II Visconti, although there had been a school of divinity here as early as 825. The oldest…
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Dominating the town centre is Pavia's red-brick Duomo, topped by the third largest dome in Italy. Leonardo da Vinci and Donato Bramante contributed to the…
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Looming over the old town is the red-brick Castello Visconteo, built in 1360 for Galeazzo II Visconti. Inside the forbidding ramparts is an enormous…
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Pavia's most important church isn't the Duomo, but the beautiful Romanesque San Michele, where medieval Lombard kings came to receive their iron crown and…
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