Voghera - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

VOGHERA (anc. Iria), a town of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Pavia, and 19 m. by rail S.S.W. of that city, 305 ft. above sea-level, on the Staffora (a tributary of the Po). Pop. (1901) 14,453 (town); 20,442 (commune). The fortifications erected by the Visconti in the middle ages have given place to shady promenades. The large church of San Lorenzo dates from the 11th century, but was remodelled in the baroque style about the beginning of the 17th. The suppressed church of S. Ilario (Chiesa Rossa), so called from the red colour of the brick of which it is built, dates from the 10th century. The neighbourhood produces much silk, in which, as well as in corn and wine, an active trade is carried on. The ancient Iria took its name from the river on which it was situated. It was on the road from Placentia to Dertona, and was made a colony by Augustus (colonia Forum Iulium Iriensium).