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So, last weekend (19/20th) being such a beautiful weekend, I decided to bring my camera around with us as we went on our bikes around town.

I don’t really talk about my little town, Pavia. It’s very well known, especially in the north, and it’s considered one of the top 10 places to live in Italy, in fact, #10. I found this in other printed media, but can’t find any links online.

I think it’s considered nice because it’s a suburb, and it also has a university, a beautiful river, medical facilities…more about that below. Most of the people living there are commuters, university students or pensioners…which I guess doesn’t really exclude anyone, but they are very neat categories that don’t overlap. In fact, my husband, being a commuter and a student has created problems with our neighbors - they want to label us one or the other. We’re trying to lean them in the “commuter” direction since more discrimination is associated with “students.”

This is the view I get every morning biking to the station. Usually the sun is coming from that direction. At this point in my ride, I’m over halfway there, but just about to go up a big hill that will make me really sweaty and a freak at the station, so the dread is starting to kick in just about now. The river going under the bridge is called the Ticino. (If you’ll see, Wikipedia has the bridge of Pavia under the description of Ticino!)

You should read all about Pavia here. You will see that Pavia is an old town, dating back to Roman times when it was called Ticinum Papi� and has been occupied by everyone at one point in time - the Spanish, the Austrians, the French, back to Austria, and then finally to Berlusconi.

I live on the side of the town that was outside of the old walls, the Borgo Ticino quarter (Borgo means “new city”). On the way to the supermarket, often we pass some interesting countryside…I really liked this little pond/bog/swamp near my house. Spooky! Interesting side note, this is next to a real-live trailer park (didn’t think they existed in Italy, did ya!) which is complete with its own “Chiesa Evangelica Cristiana” - its own Christian Church. This trailer park is a bit sad, very run down, not cared for and not in a good location (see swamp picture) but I still found it strange it had a church. There must be only about 50 people living there.

Here’s a night view of Pavia - the bridge you see there is the one I cross in the morning. I have to take the covered bridge (see above pic) home as that road’s too dangerous at night.

The University of Pavia is a very important university in Italy, established in 1361. You read that right! Hundreds of years before America was a glint in the pilgrims’ eyes. It’s most famous for its medicine program, and actually the public & private medical facilities are considered to be the best in Italy. Many people travel here for medical care from all over Italy.

The university also hosts a lot of Erasmus or study-abroad students. The Erasmus program is a E.U. program which makes it very easy for students from other member countries to attend different universities for a semester or year.

The Certosa di Pavia (info in Italian), which I have yet to visit but I see it every day from the train, is the most famous landmark of Pavia (it’s actually in the province, not in the center of town, so give me a break!).

Last, but not least, a little about agriculture. Pavia is really famous for its RICE, (in italian, riso, REE-zoh) being the home of Riso Scotti, a company that makes pasta, cookies, etc. from rice products.

For some reason, this Catholic Encyclopedia site has a lot of information (more than you want to know about Pavia.