[3] The earliest notices of Vigevano date from the tenth century, when it was favoured as a residence by King Arduin of Ivrea (1002–1014) for hunting.

At the end of September 1418, Pope Martin V visited Vigevano and a number of other cities of Lombardy during his trip from Konstanz to Rome.

[6] Until 1530 the town belonged to the Diocese of Novara, and its principal church, San Ambrogio, was staffed by a Chapter composed of a Provost and seven Canons.

Giovanni Caramuel Lobkowitz (1675) was an example of pastoral activity and the author of many works, philosophical, theological, ascetical etc., though his Theologia fundamentalis was censured.

[9] Pier Marino Sonnani (1688), a Franciscan, who enlarged the seminary and maintained a struggle against the spread of the doctrines of Miguel Molinos.

Bishop Nicola Saverio Gamboni of the diocese of Capri was appointed to the see by Napoleon in 1805, but he was refused his bulls of transfer and institution by Pope Pius VII.

In 1817, after the agreements at the Congress of Vienna, which returned the Kingdom of Sardinia to the House of Savoy after French occupation, the diocese of Vigevano received an addition to its territory.

[20] Bishop Giovanni Francesco Toppia (1818–1828) held a diocesan synod on 14–16 September 1823, to repair the damage done during the French occupation.

[23] The church which became the Cathedral of Vigevano was initially built in 1100, and then rebuilt in the sixteenth century through a commission by Duke Francesco II Sforza.

The original bull of erection of the diocese instituted a cathedral Chapter with four dignities, the Provost, the Archdeacon, the Archpriest, and the Dean.

Among the civil edifices is the castle, once a fortress, built by Bramante in 1492, by order of Ludovico il Moro, which became a royal palace.