Pavia, Duomo

The project of the Cathedral of Pavia, built on the shores of a Romanesque temple dedicated to Cibele, which was destroyed to leave space to two Christian churches that would be later on battered down, was the result of the best minds of the Renaissance: Bramante, Leonardo da Vinci and Amedeo.
The first stone was laid down on 29th June 1488 and today the marble covering of the façade has not yet been made.
This building is of major importance in the field of the Italian Renaissance architecture: the central plan and the dome, which would later on impose themselves in the cathedral of St. Peter in Rome, were experimented here for the first time in monumental forms.
The rough façade has toothing bricks in anticipation of the future marble covering.
The dome, which is the third biggest dome in size in Italy, was built in 1884 and is a real engineering masterpiece.
The Cathedral preserves the mortal remains of the patron saint of the town St. Siro, who, according to the legend, gave Jesus the five loaves and the two fish that he would miraculously multiply. The inside of the cathedral is currently being restored.