key: zone-policlinico title: "Living near the Policlinico" description: "The district for medical students and junior doctors: prices, shifts, distances, and what living opposite a hospital actually means." category: zone order: 4 updated: 2026-09-28
The area around the San Matteo hospital is where much of the medical school, the health professions and the junior doctors live. It has one feature no other district in Pavia has: it is built around people who work shifts.
Who it suits
- Medicine and health professions. The lecture halls and the wards are right there. Between placements, on-calls and night shifts, being able to walk home in five minutes changes your day.
- Junior doctors. When you are on nights, distance from home is the first thing that matters.
- Students at Cravino. The science campus is ten minutes on foot: this is the only area that serves both sites well.
Who it suits less
- Students of Law, Humanities, Economics: fifteen to twenty minutes by bike to the centre, every day.
- Anyone after street life: evenings here are quiet, and the bars are in the centre.
Prices
| Type | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Bed in a twin room | €230–290 |
| Single room | €290–370 |
| Single with private bathroom | €390–470 |
| Whole one-bedroom flat | €470–620 |
Single rooms with private bathrooms are easier to find here than elsewhere, and that is no accident: people working shifts who get in at three in the morning will pay for one.
What the area is like
Mostly 1970s and 1980s blocks, large flats, often with four or five bedrooms. Compared with the centre it is easier to find two bathrooms, which in a flat of five is not a detail.
There is the park, supermarkets, and a density of pharmacies you will not find anywhere else.
Living next to a hospital
Two things nobody tells you beforehand:
The ambulances. The sirens are there, mostly at night, and the closer you are to A&E the more you hear them. It is not a problem for everyone — most people stop noticing after a fortnight — but if you sleep lightly, ask explicitly how far the room is from the emergency entrances, and go and listen in the evening.
Flatmates on shifts. Here it is normal to live with someone who gets in at three and sleeps in the morning. If you work shifts too it is perfect; if you have a half-eight lecture, factor it in and talk about it first.
Getting around
- Wards and medical lecture halls: 3–10 minutes on foot.
- Cravino campus: 10 minutes on foot.
- Centre (Palazzo Centrale): 15 minutes by bike, 25–30 on foot.
- Station: 15–18 minutes by bike.
- City bus: connects the Policlinico to the centre reasonably often on weekdays; late evenings and Sundays the service thins out.
What to ask when viewing here
- How far is the room from the emergency entrances?
- Does the window face the ambulance route or the inner courtyard?
- How many bathrooms for how many people? With shifts, one becomes a problem.
- Is there a washing machine, and when can you use it? People working in a hospital have a lot to wash.
- What hours do the current flatmates keep?
In short
If you study or work at San Matteo, this area is hard to beat: it gives you back hours every week. If you study in the centre, you are paying for a convenience you would not use.
Browse listings near the Policlinico or compare with Cravino, ten minutes away on foot.