Ancient history

Middle Ages

Mosaic of the old coat of arms for the city, bearing a horse with one raised leg

Piacenza was sacked during the course of the Gothic War (535–554). After a short period of being reconquered by the Roman emperor Justinian I, it was conquered by the Lombards, who made it a duchy seat. After its conquest by Francia in the ninth century, the city began to recover, aided by its location along the Via Francigena that later connected the Holy Roman Empire with Rome. Its population and importance grew further after the year 1000. That period marked a gradual transfer of governing powers from the feudal lords to a new enterprising class, as well to the feudal class of the countryside.

In 1095, the city was the site of the Council of Piacenza, in which the First Crusade was proclaimed. From 1126, Piacenza was a free commune and an important member of the Lombard League. In this role, it took part in the war against Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor and in the subsequent battle of Legnano (1176). It also successfully fought the neighbouring communes of Cremona, Pavia, and Parma, expanding its territory. Piacenza also captured control of the trading routes with Genoa, where the first Piacentini bankers had already settled, from the Malaspina counts and the bishop of Bobbio.

In the thirteenth century, despite unsuccessful wars against Frederick I, Piacenza managed to gain strongholds on the Lombardy shore of the Po. The preliminaries of the Peace of Constance were signed in 1183 in the Saint Antoninus church. Agriculture and trade flourished in these centuries and Piacenza became one of the richest cities in Europe. This is reflected in the construction of many important buildings and in the general revision of the urban plan. Struggles for control were commonplace in the second half of the thirteenth century, similarly to the large majority of Medieval Italian communes. The Scotti family, Pallavicini family and Alberto Scoto (1290–1313) in that order, held power during the period. Scoto's government ended when the Visconti of Milan captured Piacenza, which they would hold until 1447. Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti rewrote Piacenza's statutes and relocated the University of Pavia to the city. Piacenza then became a possession of the House of Sforza until 1499.

Modern era

Two gold Doppie (1626) depicting Odoardo Farnese (obv) and Placentia floret ("Piacenza flourishes")(rev)

Chiefly due to the expansion of agriculture in the countryside surrounding Piacenza, the city progressed economically and a coin from the sixteenth century (that is displayed to the right) declares that by featuring the motto: Placentia floret ("Piacenza flourishes") on one of its sides. Also in the course of that century a new city wall was erected. Piacenza, as part of the Duchy of Milan, was ruled, at alternate times, by the Sforza and by France until 1521, when, under Pope Leo X, it became part of the Papal States. From 1545, following the creation of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza by Pope Paul III to his son Pier Luigi Farnese, the city was ruled by the House of Farnese.^[21]

Piacenza was the capital city of the duchy until Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma (1547–1586), moved the capital to Parma. The city underwent some of its most difficult years during the rule of Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma (1622–1646). Out of the population of 30,000 in the city between 6,000 and 13,000 Piacentini died from famine and plague. The city and its countryside were ravaged by bandits and French soldiers as well.

The French Pass the River Po at Piacenza, by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti, 1803

Between 1732 and 1859, Parma and Piacenza were ruled by the House of Bourbon. In the eighteenth century, several edifices that belonged to noble families such as Scotti, Landi, and Fogliani were built in Piacenza.

In 1802, Napoleon's army annexed Piacenza to the French Empire. Young Piacentini recruits were sent to fight in Russia, Spain, and Germany, while the city was plundered of a great number of artworks that are currently exhibited in many French museums.

The Habsburg government of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (1816–1847), is remembered fondly as one of the best in the history of Piacenza. The duchess drained many lands, built several bridges across the Trebbia and the Nure and created educational and artistic activities.

Union with Italy

Piacenza railway bridge over Po river in a 19th-century image

Austrian troops occupied Piacenza until, in 1860, a plebiscite marked the entrance of the city into the Kingdom of Sardinia. When 37,089 voters out of 37,585 voted for the annexation, Piacenza was declared Primogenita dell'Unità di Italia ("First-born of the Unification of Italy") by the monarch. The Piacentini enrolled en masse in Giuseppe Garibaldi's army for the Expedition of the Thousand.

In 1858, the geologist Karl Mayer-Eymar named the Piacenzian Age of the Pliocene Epoch based on deposits close to Piacenza.

In June 1865, the first railway bridge over the Po River in northern Italy was inaugurated (in southern Italy a railroad bridge had been built across the river in 1839). In 1891, the first Chamber of Workers was created in Piacenza.

World War II

During World War II, the city was heavily bombed by the Allies because of its strategic elements. The important railway and road bridges across the Trebbia and the Po and the railway yards were destroyed. The historic centre of city suffered collateral damage. In 1944, the bridges over the Po became vital for the supply from Austria of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's Gothic Line, which protected the withdrawal of Kesselring's troops from Italy. Foremost among these were the railway and road bridges at Piacenza, along with supply depots and railway yards. In Operation Mallory Major, July 12–15, allied medium bombers from Corsica flew 300 sorties a day, knocking out 21 bridges east of Piacenza and then continued to the west for a total of 90 by July 20. Fighter-bombers prevented reconstruction and cut roads and rail lines. By August 4, all the cities of northern Italy were isolated and had suffered heavy bombing, especially Piacenza. Transport to Genoa to the south or through Turin to the north was impossible; nevertheless, Kesselring continued to supply his men.^[22]

On the hills and the Apennine Mountains, partisans were active. On April 25, 1945, a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement broke out and on 29 April, troops of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force entered the city. In 1996, president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro honoured Piacenza with the gold medal for Valour in Battle.

There was a prisoner of war (POW) camp located in Piacenza, Veano Camp PG 29.

Climate

Climate in this area is humid subtropical with no dry season, constantly moist. Summers are hot and sultry. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfa" (Humid subtropical climate).^[23]

Major palaces of interest

• Palazzo Comunale, also known as il Gotico, was built in 1281 as the town hall. It is a prototypic Broletto of Lombardy. Of the original design, only the northern side was completed, with its typical Ghibelline merlons, the arcaded frame, the central bell tower with two lesser ones at the sides. The façade, with five arcades, is in pink marble in the lower part and in brickwork (decorated with geometrical figures) in the upper part. The main hall has frescoes and is used for meetings, lectures, and conferences.
• Palazzo Farnese, was begun in 1568 by Ottavio Farnese and his wife, Margaret of Parma. The initial project was devised by Francesco Paciotto, from Urbino, and works were entrusted to Giovanni Bernardo Della Valle, Giovanni Lavezzari, and Bernardo Panizzari (Caramosino). The design was modified in 1568 by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, better known as "Vignola".
• Palazzo Landi, built in the Middle Ages but renovated in the late fifteenth century
• Palazzo Costa
• Palazzo Somaglia
• Palazzo Baldini, on Via San Siro
• Palazzo Scotti (also known as Palazzo della Prefettura) housing the Museum of Natural History
• Palazzo dei Mercanti (17th century), the current Town Hall

Other places of interest

• Piazza Cavalli is the main square of the town. It is named ("Cavalli" means "horses") for the two bronze equestrian monuments of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (r. 1586-), nephew and valiant general of Philip II of Spain) and his son Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma, who succeeded him. The statues are masterpieces of Francesco Mochi, a Mannerist sculptor.
• Piacenza Cathedral is the Catholic cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, built during 1122 to 1233 and it is a valuable examples of northern-Italian Romanesque architecture. The façade, in Veronese pink marble and gilted stone, is parted horizontally by a gallery that dominates the three gates, and is decorated with capitals and Romanic statues. The interior has a nave and two aisles, divided by 25 large pillars. It has noteworthy frescoes, made in the fourteenth-sixteenth centuries by Camillo Procaccini and Ludovico Carracci, while those of the dome are by Morazzone and Guercino. The presbytery as a wooden sculpture from 1479, a wooden choir by Giangiacomo da Genova (1471), and statues of Lombard school from the 15th century. The crypt, built on the Greek cross plan, has 108 Romanesque small columns and is home to the relics of Saint Justine, to which the first cathedral (that crumbled down in the 1117 Verona earthquake) was dedicated.
• San Francesco Church is located centrally in Piazza Cavalli. The twelfth-century Romanesque-Gothic edifice assumed the role of civic sanctuary in the Middle Ages. Part of the medieval cloisters remains. The main portal is surmounted by a fifteenth-century lunette depicting the Ecstasy of St. Francis. The nave and two aisles, are divided by low and sturdy brick pillars that support high gothic arches. The church has a Latin cross layout. The nave, taller than the aisles, has a pentahedric apse in which the aisle apses meet; decorations include fifteenth-sixteenth centuries frescoes. In 1848, the annexion of Piacenza to the Kingdom of Sardinia was announced from the church.
• Basilica of Sant'Antonino is an example of Romanesque architecture, characterized by a large octagonal tower. It was commissioned by St. Victor, first bishop of the city, in 350 CE, and completed in 375. It contains the relics of the eponymous saint, martyred near Travo, in the Val Trebbia. In 1183 the delegates of Frederick Barbarossa and of the Lombard League met in the basilica for the preliminaries of peace of Constance. The church was renovated after damage created by the barbarian invasion. It has a fifteenth-century cloister. In the interior, the main artworks are the frescoes by Camillo Gervasetti (1622).
• Basilica of San Savino was dedicated to St. Victor's successor, was begun in 903 but consecrated only in 1107. The façade and the portico are from the 17th-18th centuries. The presbytery and the crypts contain 12th century polychrome mosaics. The interior is in Lombard-Gothic style, with anthropomorphic capitals of the columns. Over the high altar is a 12th-century wooden crucifix by an unknown artist.
• San Giovanni in Canale was founded by the Dominicans in 1220, and enlarged in the mid-sixteenth century.
• Santa Maria in Campagna is a Renaissance church facing Piazzale delle Crociate ("Crusades Square"), so called because Pope Urban II summoned the First Crusade here in 1095. The church was built in 1522–1528 to house a miraculous wooden sculpture of the Madonna. The layout was originally in a central Greek-cross plan, but later was altered into a Latin cross type. Il Pordenone frescoed the dome and in two chapels on the left side.
• St. Sixtus is a Renaissance church with a choir designed by Gio Pietro Pambianco da Colorno and Bartolomeo da Busseto (1512-1514). It was begun in the fifteenth century over a temple built in 874 by Empress Angilberga. In 1513, the monks of St. Sixtus commissioned Raphael to produce the altarpiece known as the Sistine Madonna. They sold it in 1754 to Augustus III of Poland. It is now on display in Dresden.
• The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is by Alessio Tramello.
• The Piacenza's Archaeological Museum, part of the Civic Museums of Palazzo Farnese, houses the pre-Roman bronze Liver of Piacenza, an Etruscan bronze model of a sheep's liver dating from the end of the second century to the beginning of the first century BC. The model was discovered in 1877 in Ciavernasco di Settima, near Gossolengo in the Piacenza hinterland. Containing writing on its surface delineating the various parts of the liver and their significance, it was likely used as an educational tool for students studying haruspicy, or divination.
• Palazzo Landi was built in the Middle Ages and rebuilt in its current form in the fifteenth century by Lombard craftsmen. It has a Renaissance marble portal. It is now seat of the local Tribunal.
• Galleria d'arte moderna Ricci Oddi is an art museum dedicated mainly to modern Italian painters.
• Collegio Alberoni is a Roman Catholic seminary founded by Cardinal Giulio Alberoni in the eighteenth century. The seminary maintains a gallery that displays Alberoni's personal collection of fine tapestries and Renaissance and Baroque paintings by notable artists such as Luca Giordano, Antonello da Messina, and Guido Reni.

In sports

• Giorgia Bronzini (born 1983), cyclist, World Champion of women's cycling in 2010 and 2011
• Pino Dordoni (1926–1998), 50 km walk Olympic gold medallist at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki
• Nicolò Fagioli, (born 2001), football player
• Leonardo Fornaroli (born 2004), racing driver
• Filippo "Pippo" Inzaghi (born 1973), World Cup-winning footballer and football coach
• Simone Inzaghi (born 1976), professional footballer
• Tarquinio Provini (1933–2005), twice World Champion Grand Prix motorcycle racer

Twin towns — sister cities

Piacenza is twinned with:

• Plasencia, Spain
• Togliatti, Russia
• Erfurt, Germany
• Placentia, California, U.S.
• Capilla de Guadalupe, Mexico