Experience in Pavia, Italy by Lisa

What is it like to live in Pavia? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

I think Pavia is the perfect city for a student! I recommend it! It is a very small town so you can reach almost everything on foot or by bike: you can find everything you need in a very small area! It is quiet and, as it is a small town with a famous university, it is full of young people! It is also an old city with a beautiful castle, the old bridge on the Ticino river, the ancient university building, the historical churches, the old Fraschini theatre, the streets with cobblestones and the medieval towers! I think this gives it a lot of charm!

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What is the student lifestyle like in Pavia?

Student lifestyle can be different live in a house or in a college. I think that if you are living in a house you miss a great part of the activities and traditions that make Pavia such an outstanding students city. Pavia is known for the several university colleges, especially the ones standing in the city centre. Some of them are in historical buildings and have their strong traditions.

When you become part of a college in Pavia, you are "forced" to know everyone in that college, you are moved to play in a college team or at least to go to see and cheer for your college while playing against other colleges of the city. You are not forced do that but it can be a nice way to know people also from other colleges and become friends (although there can be a bit of competition, it is normal to have friends in other colleges obviously).

When you first enter in a college you are also moved to do some "stupid things" like going around the city all together wearing a bathrobe on your clothes and singing the college chants or meeting all together at evening to present yourself and do some games.

Once a year, 10 good runners among the new arrived in every college are chosen to run the treasure hunt. It is a big event in April where you run with your team all around the city from 4 p. m. until 11 p. m. Every college is a milestone and the team has to overcome a physical or mental test in order to go to the next one. This is a good way to explore all the city colleges and have fun with the mates. If you do not want to run you can stay in the college waiting for all the teams to come and do the test of your college.

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How much does it cost to live in Pavia?

Pavia is a very cheap city. You can go out for "aperitivo" at evening and order a cocktail and eat everything you want with 7€ or have breakfast in a bar with more or less 2-3€. Transport is very cheap for students: you can obtain an annual pass with only 13€. For this reason busses are always crowded in the rush hours but you can easily move on foot or by bike if you hate crowded places. If you come from a "poor" family and you have medium-high marks you can easily get scholarships from EDISU (agency for the right of university study) in order to pay the college or house and university's fees and you can easily get a free complete meal a day in one of the 4 university's canteens. In is way, living in Pavia becomes almost "free of charges".

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Is it difficult to find accommodation in Pavia? Is there any advice you can give?

It is not difficult. If you want to live in a very cheap but nice flat, it is important to look for it with a bit of advance. If you are coming in September you can start and look for it in spring-summer. If you want to be hosted by a college you can look on the EDISU Pavia website. Here you can find all the colleges information. If you want to stay the whole year, you have to complete the request in August-September specifying college preferences. If you are a girl it would be better to stay in the city centre so that you can go out at night and come back home alone safely. If you are an Erasmus student coming for some months you may need to look for the college's "rettore" (rector) mail on the EDISU website and write to ask if they have a place (Pavia students may go in Erasmus too for some months leaving their rooms free).

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What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

As it is Italian food, it is obviously good! Pizzas are very good and also cheap, there are lots of "gelaterie" where you can find extraordinary Italian gelati (ice creams) and some pubs to drink beer. There are very nice old restaurants that maybe not so affordable to eat every day if you do not have lots of money but you can go there once just to try. You can find piadinas, brioches, cakes... Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, Greek restaurants and so on. Pavia is the city of the famous "torta paradiso" created in the historical Vigoni pastry shop. It is nothing extraordinary, it is a very simple cake but it is traditional.

Is it good to eat out in Pavia? Can you tell us your favourite spots?

When we decide to go out, me and my friends usually go to the Manà bar in the centre near "piazza della vittoria" at evening to do aperitivo with 7€. For lunch we use to go to the Japanese all you can eat at 11€ at Asahi or Hayashi restaurants. We also go to the Broletto or dubliner pubs to have a beer. At evening we go at the end of new street (strada nuova) near the river where you can find warm croissants from 11 p. m. filled in with the cream you prefer. We also go to take ice creams near "Piazza della minerva" in Cavour street to eat a wonderful gelato at the "Gelateria Romana".

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What places would you recommend visiting in Pavia?

Everything! It is such a small town that you can go around by foot and expore it! You can find everything on the web.

Is the nightlife good in Pavia? Where is good to go?

I am not a night life girl but usually students go to the few small discos of Pavia such as Nirvana or Viscosa. If you want something more you can easily reach Milano by train to do a night out in a very big city where you can find something more and many discos and pubs.

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What advice would you give future students heading to Pavia?

Be careful and look for all the possible scholarships of the EDISU and go to do the bus pass in september so that you can travel free around the city.