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PIACENZA (Lat. Placentia)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 559 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PIACENZA (See also:Lat. Placentia) , a See also:town and episcopal see of See also:Emilia, See also:Italy, the See also:capital of the See also:province of Piacenza, 422 M. S.E. of See also:Milan and 91 M. N.W. of See also:Bologna by See also:rail. Pop. (1906), 39,786. It lies on the Lombard See also:plain, 217 ft. above See also:sea-level, near the right See also:bank of the Po, which here is crossed by road and railway See also:bridges, just below the confluence of the See also:Trebia. It is still surrounded by walls with bastions and See also:fosse in a See also:circuit of 4 M. The See also:cathedral was erected between 1122 and 1233, in the Lombard Romanesque See also:style, under the direction of Santo da Sambuceto, on the site of a See also:church of the 9th See also:century which had been destroyed by See also:earthquake. The See also:west front has three doors with curious pillared porches. The campanile is a massive square See also:brick See also:tower 223 ft. high; the See also:iron cage attached to one of its windows was put up in 1495 by Ludovico it See also:Moro for the confinement of persons guilty of See also:treason or See also:sacrilege. The See also:crypt is a large church supported by one See also:hundred columns.

The entire edifice has been restored since 1898, and the frescoes by Guercino and See also:

Caracci, which decorate parts of its roof, though See also:good in themselves, are inappropriate to its severe style. Sant' Antonino, which was the cathedral church till 877, is supposed to have been founded by St See also:Victor, the first See also:bishop of Piacenza, in the 4th century, and restored in 903; it was rebuilt in 1104, and altered in 1857. It was within its walls that the deputies of the Lombard See also:League swore to the conditions of See also:peace ratified in 1183 at See also:Con-stance. The See also:Gothic brick See also:vestibule (I1 Paradiso) on the See also:north See also:side is one of the older parts of the See also:building. See also:San See also:Francesco, a spacious Gothic edifice begun by the See also:Franciscans in 1278, was erected on the site of the See also:palace of Ubertino Landi, a See also:leader of the Ghibelline party. S. Savino, a See also:fine Romanesque building of A.D. 903 (well restored in 1903), contains a See also:mosaic See also:pavement of this See also:period with curious representations, including one of a See also:game of See also:chess. S. Sisto, which See also:dates from 1499, and takes the See also:place of the church founded in 874 by Angilberga (See also:consort of the See also:emperor See also:Louis II.), lost its See also:chief attraction when See also:Raphael's Sistine Madonna (now in See also:Dresden) was sold by the monks in 1754 to See also:Frederick See also:Augustus III. Its place, however, is occupied by a copy by Avanzini, and there are also several good intarsias by Bartolomeo da Busseto. S.

Sepolcro and S. Maria della Campagna are both good See also:

early See also:Renaissance churches; the latter is See also:rich in frescoes by See also:Pordenone. S. See also:Anna, dating from 1334, was the church of the barefooted See also:Carmelites. Of the See also:secular buildings the most interesting is the Palazzo Communale, begun in 1281, one of the finest buildings of its See also:kind in Italy. The square in front is known as the Piazza dei See also:Cavalli, from the two See also:bronze equestrian statues of Ranuccio (162o) and his See also:father See also:Alexander, See also:prince of See also:Parma, See also:governor of the See also:Netherlands (1625). Both were designed by Francesco Mocchi. The Palazzo dei Tribunali and the Palazzo degli Scoti are fine early Renaissance brick buildings with terra-See also:cotta decorations. The huge See also:Farnese palace was begun after Vignola's designs by See also:Margaret of See also:Austria in 1558, but it was never completed, and since 1800 it has been used as See also:barracks. Other buildings or institutions of See also:note are the old and the new bishop's palace, the fine See also:theatre designed by Lotario Tomba in 1803, the See also:great See also:hospital dating from 1471, the library presented to the See also:commune in 1846 by the See also:marquis Ferdinando Landi, and the Passerini library founded in 1685. The Museo Civico, formed in 1903, contains collections of antiquities (though many of the See also:Roman antiquities of Piacenza have passed to the museum of Parma), some good Flemish tapestries and a few pictures. The See also:castle erected by See also:Antonio da See also:Sangallo the younger has been demolished.

Piacenza is the junction of the Milan and Bologna See also:

line with that from See also:Voghera and See also:Turin. From Codogno, 7 m• to the north, a See also:branch line runs to See also:Cremona. By road Piacenza is 88 m. north=See also:east of See also:Genoa. The town has an See also:arsenal, a technical and arts school, and various See also:industries—iron and See also:brass See also:works, foundries, See also:silk-throwing, See also:printing works and See also:flour-See also:mills. Piacenza was made a Roman See also:colony in 218 B.C. While its walls were yet unfinished it had to repulse an attack by the Gauls, and in the latter See also:part of 2,8 it afforded See also:protection to the remains of the Roman See also:army under Scipio which had been defeated in the great See also:battle on the Trebia. In 205 it withstood a protracted See also:siege by See also:Hasdrubal. Five years later the Gauls burned the See also:city; and in 190 it had to be recruited with three thousand families. In 187 it was connected with See also:Ariminum and the See also:south by the construction of the Via Aemilia. Later on it became a very important road centre; the continuation north-wards of the Via Aemilia towards Milan, with a branch to See also:Ticinum, crossed the Po there, and the Via See also:Postumia from Cremona to Dertona and Genoa passed through it. Later still Augustus reconstructed the road from Dertona to Vade, and into Gallia Narbonensis, and gave it the name of Julia See also:Augusta from Placentia onwards. The rectangular arrangement of the streets in the centre of the town, through which passes the Via Aemilia, is no doubt a survival from Roman times.

Placentia is mentioned in connexion with its See also:

capture by See also:Cinna and a defeat of the forces of See also:Carbo in the neighbourhood (82 B.C.), a See also:mutiny of See also:Julius See also:Caesar's See also:garrison (5o B.C.), another mutiny under Augustus (40 B.C.), the See also:defence of the city by Spurinna, See also:Otho's See also:general, against See also:Caecina, See also:Vitellius's general (A.D. 69), and the defeat of See also:Aurelian by the See also:Marcomanni outside the walls (A.D. 271). In 546 See also:Totila reduced Piacenza by See also:famine. Between 997 and 1035 the city was governed by its bishops, who had received the See also:title of See also:count from Otho III. At Roncaglia, 5 M. to the east, the emperor See also:Conrad II. held the See also:diet which passed the Salic See also:law. In the latter part of the 12th century it was one of the leading members of the Lombard League. For the most part it remained See also:Guelph, though at times, as when it called in Galeazzo See also:Visconti, it was glad to See also:appeal to a powerful Ghibelline for aid against its domestic tyrants. In 1447 the city was captured and sacked by Francesco See also:Sforza. Having been occupied by the papal forces in 1512, it was in 1545 See also:united with Parma (q.v.) to See also:form an hereditary duchy for Pierluigi Farnese, son of See also:Paul III. In 1746 a battle between the Franco-See also:Spanish forces and the Austrians was fought under the city walls, and in 1796 it was occupied by the See also:French. In 1848 Piacenza was the first of the towns of See also:Lombardy to join See also:Piedmont; but it was reoccupied by the Austrians till 1859.

End of Article: PIACENZA (Lat. Placentia)

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