Pavia is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, 35 kilometres south of Milan on the lower Ticino near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major political centre in the medieval period, being the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom from 540 to 553, of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774, of the Kingdom of Italy from 774 to 1024 and seat of the Visconti court from 1365 to 1413.