key: zone-cravino title: "Living in Cravino: what it costs and who it suits" description: "The science campus area: prices, transport, neighbourhood life and what to actually expect." category: zone order: 1 updated: 2026-09-20
Cravino is the district north-west of Pavia where the science campus and the Engineering lecture halls are. If you study there, it is the area that gives you back an hour a day.
Who it suits
- Engineering, Science, Biotechnology: the lecture halls are right there. Five minutes on foot instead of twenty minutes by bike from the centre, twice a day, including January in the fog.
- Anyone on a tight budget: prices are lower than in the centre for the same kind of room.
- Anyone working in a lab with long or irregular hours.
Who it suits less
- Students of Law, Humanities, Economics or Medicine: those faculties are on the other side of town.
- Anyone after historic-centre life: evenings in Cravino are quiet, to put it mildly. The bars are in the centre, and in the evening people go down there.
Prices
Roughly, for a room in a shared flat:
| Type | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Bed in a twin room | €220–280 |
| Single room | €280–360 |
| Single with private bathroom | €380–450 |
| Whole one-bedroom flat | €500–650 |
These are orders of magnitude, not price lists: they depend on how new the building is, whether bills are included, and the time of year. September costs more because demand is higher; January, thanks to takeovers, is when the best deals turn up.
What the area is like
Cravino grew up around the university and it shows: a lot of 1970s and 1980s blocks, large flats with four or five bedrooms, built for sharing. You will find whole flats to rent to a group here more easily than anywhere else.
That has two practical consequences:
- flats are more often already furnished for students, with real desks and decent wardrobes;
- the buildings often have no lift and a poor energy rating: always ask for two winter bills before signing.
Getting around
- On foot: Cravino to the centre is about 25–30 minutes.
- By bike: 10–12 minutes to Strada Nuova. This is what everybody uses, and there is a cycle lane for most of the route.
- By bus: city lines connect Cravino to the centre and the station reasonably often on weekdays. Late in the evening and on Sundays the service thins out a lot: if you plan on getting home at one in the morning, get a bike.
- Policlinico: close by, about 10 minutes on foot. If you study Medicine and have classes in both areas, Cravino is a reasonable compromise.
Services
Supermarkets, a pharmacy, a few bars and the university canteens. For anything else you go to the centre. There is more greenery than in the centre and more space to park a bike, which is not nothing.
What to ask when viewing in Cravino
- Heating: many buildings have central heating on fixed hours. Ask what they are and whether there are individual meters.
- Windows: double glazing or not makes an enormous difference to the winter bill.
- How many people in the flat: five-bedroom flats with a single bathroom do exist. Count the bathrooms, not the bedrooms.
- Covered bike storage: in winter it changes your life.
In short
Cravino is the practical choice: you pay less, you are next to the science faculties, you give up the centre's neighbourhood life. If you study there and have a bike, it is hard to do better.
Browse listings in Cravino or compare with the historic centre.