Editing Vigevano

{{Infobox Italian comune
| name                = Vigevano
| official_name       = Città di Vigevano
| native_name         = {{native name|lmo|Avgevan}}
| image_skyline       = Vigevano0001.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| image_alt           = 
| image_caption       = Piazza Ducale, with the [[Vigevano Cathedral|Cathedral]] façade
| image_shield        = Vigevano-Stemma.svg
| image_flag          = Vigevano-Bandiera.svg
| shield_alt          = 
| image_map           = Map of comune of Vigevano (province of Pavia, region Lombardy, Italy).svg
| map_alt             = 
| map_caption         = Vigevano within the province of Pavia
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_alt     = 
| coordinates         = {{coord|45|19|02|N|8|51|29|E|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes = 
| region              = [[Lombardy]]
| province            = [[Province of Pavia|Pavia]] (PV)
| frazioni            = Piccolini, Morsella, Fogliano, Sforzesca, Buccella
| mayor_party         = [[Lega Nord|LN]]
| mayor               = Andrea Ceffa
| area_footnotes      = 
| area_total_km2      = 82
| population_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|title=Monthly Demographic Balance|url=https://demo.istat.it/app/?l=en&a=2025&i=D7B|publisher=[[Italian National Institute of Statistics|ISTAT]]}}</ref>
| population_total    = 62845
| population_as_of    = 2025
| pop_density_footnotes = 
| population_demonym  = Vigevanesi
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m         = 116
| twin1               = 
| twin1_country       = 
|istat=| saint               = 
| day                 = 
| postal_code         = 27029
| area_code           = 0381
| website             = {{official website|https://www.comune.vigevano.pv.it}}
| footnotes           = 
}}

'''Vigevano''' ({{IPA|it|viˈdʒɛːvano, -ˈdʒeː-|lang}}; {{langx|lmo|label=[[Western Lombard]]|Avgevan}}) is a {{lang|it|[[comune]]}} (municipality) in the [[province of Pavia]], in the [[Italy|Italian]] region of [[Lombardy]]. A historic [[Arts town|art town]], it is also renowned for [[shoemaking]] and is one of the main centres of [[Lomellina]], a [[Paddy field|rice-growing]] agricultural district. Vigevano received the honorary title of city with a decree of [[Francesco II Sforza|Duke Francis II Sforza]] on 2 February 1532. It is famed for its [[Renaissance]] {{lang|it|Piazza Ducale|i=no}} in the centre of the town. It is also known for the Rassegna Litteraria di Vigevano (Literary Review of Vigevano), an annual cultural event celebrating literature and the arts, which honours two distinguished personalities from the world of culture every year with the ''National Prize'' and the ''International Career Prize''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chi siamo |url=https://rassegnaletterariavigevano.comune.vigevano.pv.it/chi-siamo |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=Rassegna Letteraria Vigevano |language=it}}</ref>

==History==
The earliest records of Vigevano date back to 963, when for the first time is mentioned in documents the castle of Vigevano.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Romanoni |first1=Fabio |title=Longobardi 569- 2019. 1450° anniversario della presenza longobarda tra Ticino, Sesia e Po |date=2020 |publisher=Società Storica Vigevanese |location=Vigevano |pages=34–36 |url=https://www.academia.edu/49038602 |access-date=12 April 2024 |language=it |chapter=Insediamenti di età longobarda in Lomellina tra Ticino, Sesia e Po}}</ref> Vigevano was given in 1154 by Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa]] in [[Pavia]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Enciclopedia Treccani |title=Vigevano |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/vigevano/ |website=treccani.it |publisher=ISTITUTO DELLA ENCICLOPEDIA ITALIANAFONDATA DA GIOVANNI TRECCANI |access-date=12 April 2024 |language=it}}</ref>

Vigevano was accordingly besieged and taken by the Milanese in 1201 and again in 1275. In 1328 it finally surrendered to [[Azzone Visconti]], and thereafter shared the political fortunes of Milan. The Church of [[San Pietro Martire, Vigevano|San Pietro Martire]] (St Peter Martyr) was built, with the adjacent Dominican convent, by [[Filippo Maria Visconti]] in 1445. In the last years of Visconti domination it sustained a siege by [[Francesco I Sforza|Francesco Sforza]]. Once he was settled in power in Lombardy, Sforza arranged for Vigevano to be set up as the seat of a bishop and provided its revenues.

== Demographics ==
{{Historical populations|1861|17328|1871|19833|1881|20416|1901|23560|1911|27746|1921|30029|1931|32978|1936|38039|1951|43805|1961|57069|1971|67909|1981|65179|1991|60384|2001|57450|2011|60109|2021|62201|footnote=Source: [[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]|cols=2|align=none}}

==Main sights==

===Castello Sforzesco===

Vigevano is crowned by the [[Visconti-Sforza Castle (Vigevano)|Castello Sforzesco]], a [[fortification|stronghold]] rebuilt 1492–94 for Ludovico Maria Sforza ([[Ludovico Sforza|Ludovico il Moro]]), the great patron born in the town, who transformed the fortification/hunting lodge of Luchino Visconti (who in turn had re-used a [[Lombards|Lombard]] fortress) into a rich noble residence, at the cusp of Gothic and Renaissance. [[Leonardo da Vinci]] was his guest at Vigevano, as was [[Donato Bramante|Bramante]], who is ascribed with the tall tower that watches over the piazza from the Castello Sforzesco. The old castle has a unique raised covered road, high enough for horsemen to ride through, that communicates between the new palace and the old fortifications; there is a Falconry, an elegant [[loggia]]to supported by 48 columns, and, in the rear area of the [[mastio]], the Ladies' Loggia made for Duchess [[Beatrice d'Este]].

===Piazza Ducale===
Vigevano's main attraction is the Piazza Ducale, an elongated rectangle that is almost in the proportions 1:3,  built for [[Ludovico Sforza]], starting in 1492-93 and completed in record time, unusual for early Renaissance town planning. Piazza Ducale was actually planned to form a noble forecourt to his castle, unified by the arcades that completely surround the square, an amenity of the new North Italian towns built in the 13th century. The town's main street enters through a sham arcaded façade that preserves the unity of the space as at the [[Place des Vosges]]. Ludovico demolished the former palazzo of the [[medieval commune|commune]] of Vigevano to create the space.

At the outside of town is the [[Villa La Sforzesca, Vigevano|La Sforzesca]], a rectangular villa-fortress with corner palace-towers, built in 1486 by Ludovico il Moro.

===Cathedral===
{{Main|Vigevano Cathedral}}
In the 17th century one end of the Piazza Ducale was enclosed by the concave [[Baroque]] façade of the Cathedral, cleverly adjusted to bring the ancient duomo into a line perpendicular to the axis of the piazza and centered on it.

The Cathedral was begun in 1532 under Duke [[Francesco II Sforza|Francesco II]], who commissioned the design to [[Antonio da Lonate]]. The edifice was completed in 1606. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles, and houses works by [[Macrino d'Alba]], [[Bernardino Ferrari]] and others, as well as tempera [[polyptych]] of the school of [[Leonardo da Vinci]].
<gallery>
File:Vigevano-street01.jpg|A street in central Vigevano
File:Vigevano0002.jpg|[[Donato Bramante|Bramante]]'s Tower, Castello Sforzesco of Vigevano
File:Vigevano01.jpg|Court of the Castello Sforzesco
File:Vigevano03.jpg|The famous road-gallery in the Castello Sforzesco
</gallery>

==Economy==
For centuries, the city was a manufacturing centre, especially for the silk and cotton industry.

The key sector of Vigevano industry is shoemaking. Handily{{clarify|date=April 2019}} shoemaking began to expand during the [[World War I|First World War]] and, by the 1950s, Vigevano was known as Italy's "shoe capital".

==People==
* [[Pozzo Ardizzi|Abramo Ardizzi]] (de Arditiis or Ardiciis) (15th century), diplomat, ambassador, bishop and cardinal
* [[Camilla Rodolfi]] ([[Floruit|fl.]] 1449), military commander of group of women defending Vigevano 
* [[Donato Bramante]] (1444–1514), architect and painter. He worked in Vigevano for Ludovico Sforza.
* [[Ludovico Sforza]] (1452–1508), Duke of Milan
* [[Leonardo da Vinci]] (1452–1519), [[polymath]]. He worked in Vigevano for Ludovico Sforza.
* [[Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz]] (1606–1682), mathematician and bishop of Vigevano
* [[Riccardo Marchesini]] (born 1952), canoer
* Giovanni Peroni, industrialist, who founded [[Peroni Brewery]] in Vigevano, in 1846
* [[Eleonora Duse]] (1858–1924), Italian actress, often known simply as Duse<ref>{{cite web |title=Duse, Eleonora (1858-1924), actress |url=https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1801621 |website=American National Biography |year=2000 |access-date=22 January 2022 |language=en |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1801621|isbn=978-0-19-860669-7 |last1=Fisher |first1=James }}</ref>
* [[Vito Pallavicini]] (1924–2007), lyricist, mostly known for being one of the two writers of ''"''[[Azzurro]]''"''
* Guido Ferracin (1926–1973), athlete, European bantam weight boxing champion
* [[Gian-Carlo Rota|Gian Carlo Rota]] (1932–1999), mathematician and philosopher
* [[Margie Santimaria]] (born 1989), professional triathlete
*Carlo Erba (1811–1888), founder of Carlo Erba Spa (merged with [[Farmitalia]])

==Twin towns==
*{{flagicon|ITA}} [[Ficarra]], Italy
*{{flagicon|ITA}} [[Matera]], Italy
*{{flagicon|PRC}} [[Wenzhou]], People's Republic of China

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last=Giedion|first=Sigfried|title=Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition|year=1967|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674830400|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHZnmKxkGMwC|author-link=Sigfried Giedion}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Vigevano}}
* [https://valesmonkeys.smugmug.com/Photography/Vigevano Photo gallery made by a UNESCO photographer]
* [http://italiaanse-toestanden.duepadroni.it/vigevano-the-ideal-place-for-your-italian-wedding Vigevano – the ideal place for your Italian wedding]
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Vigevano |short=x}}

{{Province of Pavia|state=collapsed}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Vigevano| ]]
[[Category:Castles in Italy]]