Aula Scarpa, Neoclassical university lecture hall in Pavia, Italy.

Aula Scarpa is a semicircular hall at the University of Pavia, built in 1785–1786 on a design by Leopoldo Pollack inspired by Palladio's Teatro Olimpico. Five arched windows open on the short side, and marble busts of professors such as Antonio Scarpa and Bartolomeo Panizza line the curved wall. The wooden seating is fitted with balustrades, and the ceiling is an umbrella vault with a lantern added after 1819 by Giuseppe Marchesi.

The space was designed in 1785 by Leopoldo Pollack as an anatomical theater after original plans by Giuseppe Piermarini were rejected by Emperor Joseph II. Accepting a new design marked an important shift in how medical education was shaped at this university.

The hall is named after Antonio Scarpa, the anatomist who arrived in Pavia in 1783 and pushed for a new anatomical theatre suited to his teaching. The decoration follows a funerary theme: the epigraph above the entrance door is framed by funeral vases, and the exterior facade has a rusticated wall with a pediment whose oculus holds a cinerary urn.

The lecture hall is part of the university and located in Pavia's historic center, making it easily accessible on foot. Check in advance whether guided tours are available, since the space remains in active use.

Above the entrance door an epigraph is framed by funeral vases, and the severe ashlar facade carries a pediment with an oculus holding a cinerary urn. The theme of death runs through the whole room, in the Neoclassical manner, and begins outside before a visitor steps in.