Basilica del Santissimo Salvatore

Recently renovated church, many valuable frescoes, a beautiful part of Pavia's history

It has an important history, there is an adjoining cloister and a completely renovated convent structure. The site can be visited with a guided tour once a month.

The basilica of San Salvatore, commonly known as San Mauro, was once a monastery ... to its internal friend we find many chapels with many works of art ...

It was founded in 657 by the Lombard king Ariperto. It was rebuilt for the first time in 970 thanks to Queen Adelaide who also founded the Monastery of San Salvatore next to the church. In the 18th century the church and its monastery were transformed into barracks and military depot The church was later recovered and reopened for worship in 1901 It really is a very old church, full of history. The marble altar is from 1504 by Antonio da Novara. The former barracks have been closed for years, while the small cloister was bought by the parish of San Salvatore and on 13 January 2019 the Cloister of San Mauro (small cloister) was inaugurated. The part of the former barracks with a beautiful cloister is now in total abandonment and it was possible to visit it thanks to the event of 13 January 2019.

"Religious building of the fifteenth century and adjoining cloister of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Internally it is decorated with valuable paintings from the beginning of the 16th century and paintings of high value. It also contains an altar of the ‘500 and a wooden choir of the‘ 700 ’. Paolo Diacono testifies to the foundation of an oratory in honor of the Savior by the Lombard king Ariperto (then between 653 and 662), who was then buried there, like his successors Pertarido, Cuniperto and Ariperto II. The external position of the walls, however, is very exposed and it seems reasonable to conclude that a period of decline may have complex known during military operations that pitted the Lombards, the Franks of Charlemagne. Even later, during the siege of the Hungarians, in 924, he went through difficult times and the monks had to leave the monastery to save themselves. But already in 925 a diploma of the emperor Rudolph II confirms to the bishop the abbey of San Salvatore; privilege renewed in 944 with the diplomas of Ugo and Lotario. The state of the buildings must not be the most flourishing if Queen Adelaide, wife of Lothario first and then of Ottone I, decides to rebuild from the foundations church and convent. Call the Benedictines and entrust the religious organization to the monk Maiolo, abbot of Cluny. In 1448 the monastery was united to the Congregation of the Fathers of Santa Giustina of Padua, who, between 1453 and 1467, are building the church with its monastery that develops on the west side, around the large cloister; in the decades between the 15th and 16th centuries the realization of the rich decorative apparatus is placed. The complex undergoes a significant intervention of renewal in the first half of the eighteenth century, identifiable both decorative in the church, both in the architectural elements of the monastery: in particular the large windows and turrets placed to give light to the galleries who fulfill the cells on the first floor. Despite using 'inappropriate' by the army, which lasted about forty years, the church has retained a strong Benedictine footprint, thanks to the fact that much of the iconography and decoration was fresco and therefore not removable. Thus, when in 1900, thanks to the Society for the Conservation of Christian Monuments, the church was regained for worship (the official reopening took place on 21 March 1901), it did not lose the fundamental devotions linked to the monastic order and some chapels retained the ancient dedications to San Benedetto, San Mauro, San Martino. Catalog of Bound Goods of the Municipality of Pavia at No. 004.

Romanesque church with three naves located on the western outskirts of the city, point of passage and refreshment for pilgrims traveling along the old Via Francigena, the exterior is rough and is not plastered. The interior has numerous frescoes very well preserved next to it but it cannot be visited you can see a cloister that belonged to the convent adjoining the church

Beautiful church, ancient, with many frescoes, paintings, statues .... A gem! It was an ancient monastery. The church was founded by a Lombard king to celebrate the conversion of the Lombards to Catholicism. The two chapels next to the presbytery are interesting, one dedicated to San Benedetto and the other to San Martino di Tour, with entirely frescoed walls. The facade is presented in a very simple way but the interior is a wealth! Worth a guided tour.

Beautiful basilica with many frescoes and Baroque decorations, a feeling of grandeur inside that is not fully perceived from the outside. A beautiful courtyard flanked by a small cloister completes the layout.