The R.C Pavia (Rotary Club of Pavia), the oldest and once the only club of the province, was founded on the 26th January 1950 on the initiative of the Rotary Club, Milan. Starting out with 33 members, mainly industrial company leaders and university lecturers, it was based in the historic “Bixio” restaurant in Pavia.
From the beginning, availing itself of the numerous lecturers and scholars who were part of it, the club carried out an intense cultural and social activity, with the secretary and chief administrator taking part in the “Lucerne convention” held in March 1957.
In 1955 the club was twinned with the Montpellier club and the relationship has lasted thanks to numerous meetings and exchanges. The life of this organization proceeds intensely, involving prominent people.
Three of the club’s Presidents would become governors: Giorgio Odero, Paolo Fronzosini and Ivo De Lotto.
The club pays particular attention to the education of the young, promoting the policy of awarding graduate bursaries and organizing regular meetings with students and foreign graduates completing their studies at the University of Pavia.
Since 1988, the international “Girolamo Cardano Prize” has also been regularly assigned to distinguished individuals from Italy and abroad as an important gesture of recognition to the sciences, arts and professions.
With the foundation of the new Pavia Minerva and Pavia Ticinum Clubs in 1978 and 1998 respectively, a profitable cooperation between the city’s clubs started, expressed in convivial meetings and actions of public interest, among which the “Progetto del Centenario” (Project of the Centenary), in 2005, consisting of restoring the park of the “Casa di Riposo Pertusati” (Pertusati Retirement Home), handed over to the town as an important area for socialising.
In 2005 a new twinning with the RC Zakynthos (Greece – District 2470) took place, to symbolize the historic ties between Pavia and Zakyntho, in the names of the poets Ugo Foscolo and Dionisios Solomos.
