Palestro is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Pavia. It is located on the banks of the river Sesia.

History

Although located in area settled by Celts, Etruscans, Romans and Lombards, Palestro is mentioned for the first time in 999 AD, when it was given to the

bishop of Vercelli The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vercelli (in Latin, ''Archidioecesis Vercellensis'') is a Latin rite Metropolitan see in northern Italy, one of the two archdioceses which, together with their suffragan dioceses, form the ecclesiastical region ...

by emperor

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

. It was located in the Via Francigena and at the time it was a fortified borough. Later it was ruled by the Visconti of Milan (1335-1452), then by the Borromeo family and, from 1500, by Spain, which was ended by its acquisition by the

Duchy of Savoy The Duchy of Savoy ( it, Ducato di Savoia; french: Duché de Savoie) was a country in Western Europe that existed from 1416. It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy for Amadeus VIII. The duc ...

in 1614. Palestro was the site of the Battle of Palestro of 30–31 May 1859, in the course of the Second Italian War of Independence

Twin towns

Palestro is twinned with: * Montebello della Battaglia, Italy, since 1984
{{Pavia-geo-stub