Milan is the economic powerhouse of Italy but also the country’s least charming city. Fortunately for visitors, however, Milan is also surrounded by places which – all within an hour or so by rail – represent the best that Italy can offer.
For scenic beauty, few parts of the country can rival Lake Como and Orta San Giulio. If it’s a pre-Alpine hilltop town you’re after, you cannot do better than Bergamo.
If you are looking for rich history and its reflection in magnificent architecture from a wide range of periods, then Pavia is your best bet.
Even in Italy, not many cities can offer more or better in this respect: Pavia has written history for more than 2000 years.
This is where, in the late 19th century, Albert Einstein wrote one of his earliest papers (his father owned a trading company for electrical equipment here); where (in 1525) the battle was fought that established the superiority of firearms in war; where one of antique philosophy’s most famous books was written (Boethius composed De Consolatione while imprisoned in Pavia); and even before that, where the Roman Empire came to a sticky end when its last de facto ruler, the father of the “straw-child” Emperor Augustulus, was killed by his officers.
Of all these periods, antiquity appears to be the one most fondly remembered by the modern Pavesi, judging by the large number of classical statues that are scattered throughout the town center.
But Pavia’s proper heyday was still to follow: in the Middle Ages, the city – thanks to the navigable waterways that provided a convenient link with the Adriatic Sea – became the region’s main hub for trade and commercial activities of all kinds, making its name as a more bustling and cheerful rival of staid Milan 40 kilometres to the north.
The towers that aristocratic families of the period built to emphasize their status still dominate the city’s skyline.
In the 14th century, Pavia lost a war and gained a new friend. The new rulers of Pavia – the Dukes of Milan – soon fell for its charms and regarded it very much as the “second city” of their powerful state rather than a mere conquest.
It was also during this period (in 1361) that Pavia’s university was established, making it one of the oldest in the world and – for almost 5 centuries – the only institution of higher learning in the region.
A city walk to discover the history and timeless beauty of Pavia
For a walk through town, we suggest you start at the bulky Cathedral …
… turning northwards towards the Visconti Palace. The Dukes of Milan had won the war against Pavia but liked it so much here that they even moved their main residence for a while, making Pavia – albeit temporarily – the capital of Lombardy.
Much of the vast park that once lay behind the 14th century castle still exists (starting a few blocks beyond the canal in the back of the Castello), but if you do not have the time for such a longer exploration, the Visconti Palace is the right place to turn back into town.
Stroll through the shaded lanes that lead through the historic university quarter, enjoying the distant echo of hundreds of years of academic scholarship and learned discussions.
On your way through the old town, you will pass by more churches than we could list here. Step inside of least one or two of them. All of these churches are richly decorated, and many interiors are prodigiously covered in colourful frescoes.
And don’t miss Vigoni, the city’s premier pasticceria opposite the main university building on 110 Strada Nuova. Sample the specialty of the house, the delicious Torta Paradiso, and the unique atmosphere of the coffee shop where not much appears to have changed since the 19th century.
Finally, to walk off the calorie intake from your visit at Vigoni’s and to sample some Lombardian landscape, we suggest a short walk on the banks of the Ticino river in the south of the town.
Cross the scenic Ponte Coperto …
… to the Borgo Ticino on the right bank which is full of quaint little riverside houses.
Explore the idyllic riverside scenery …
… before continuing on the river footpath underneath the Ponte Coperto in the direction of the popular Parco del Ticino.
Move across the park to reach the bridge ahead of you. Cross the bridge …
… and return to town. All in all, this little excursion should take you no more than 60 to 90 minutes.
This was our first walk since we joined the adidas Blogger Community, and we took the opportunity to test two of their products along the way.
For me, this meant running the Contempo Utility Messenger through its paces, in search for a solution to a long-standing problem of mine: for town walks such as this, backpacks are simply too big and too much trouble – particularly in Italian city streets, if I may add, where I like to make “bella figura” in my Sunday clothes, leaving all gear that speaks of hiking in the safe confines of the hotel.
The small Contempo Utility Messenger is perfect for this purpose – it is big enough for necessities such as a water bottle, a tablet computer or guidebook, and a camera, and rather fancy to boot.
Elegant enough even for a fashionable lunghomare promenade or a chic uptown galleria.
Mrs Easy Hiker, meanwhile, has for quite some time been complaining about “unsuitable footwear”. Hiking gear, she agrees with me (a rare event), is by and large “too clunky” for Italian city streets, and the street shoes she has “do not create a proper bounce underneath the soles”, creating all kinds of problems further up her body, particularly in the knees.
So for our most recent walk, she tried the adidas Kaptir 2.0 which is equipped with a cloudfoam designed to cushion every step and promised to create stable traction on urban surfaces – with “great results”, she says.
The adidas Kaptir 2.0 is sleek and really comfortable, too, as I am sure you will agree. Mrs Easy Hiker, at any rate, was more than happy with the experience.
