Piacenza
a city of northern Italy, on the right bank of the Po, a little below its confluence with the Trebbia, 43 miles S. E. of Milan and 35 N. W. of Parma. Situated at the end of the Via Emilia and at the last convenient crossing place E. on the Po, it has always been an important city, both strategically and commercially, since its foundation (as Placentia) by the Romans in 219 B. C. It is defended with bastioned walls and an outer ring of forts. The The source of all the energy of an animal lies in its food, and this is either burned as it were within the tissues, used as fuel for the protoplasmic machinery, or used to keep that machinery in repair; in either case the foodstuffs have to be prepared before they can be used. Such preparation is called digestion, which consists in making the solid foodstuffs soluble. The digested food is absorbed into the blood, and all of it, except the fat, is carried direct to the liver. The liver, among other functions, cathedral, in the Lombard-Romanesque regulates the composition of the blood, thus it stores the sugar in its cells and gives it out as the other tissues require.
Muscular tissue is the great consumer of sugar. An important foodstuff requiring no digestion is oxygen, needed by the protoplasm for its life, and also for the burning of fuel within the living machinery to get heat and energy of motion. The oxygen is held in the BLOOD (q. v.) by means of a special substance which greedily absorbs it from the air in the lungs, and yet gives it up readily to the protoplasm of the tissues. The blood as is well known circulates round and round the body pumped by the heart. It is a stream of food material by which each cell of the tissue is fed. For each style (1122-1233), has an immense crypt, a campanile 223 feet high, and paintings by L. Carracci, Guercino, and others. The church of Sant' Antonio, the original cathedral, was founded in 324. The church of Santa Maria della Campagna is adorned with fine frescoes by Pordenone; and it was for San Sisto that Raphael painted the celebrated Sistine Madonna, sold in 1754 by the monks to Frederick Augustus of Saxony.
Among the other buildings are the Palazzo Farnese (1558), once a sumptuous edifice, but since 1800 in use as barracks; the communal palace (1281), and the court house. The principal square is adorned with colossal bronze equestrian statues of Alessandro and Ranuc- Piacenza have been its capture by the The more notable facts in the history of meeting here of two Church councils in Gauls in 200 and by Totila in 546, the tons, pottery, hats, etc., are carried on.
The more notable facts in the history of Piacenza have been its capture by the Gauls in 200 and by Totila in 546, the meeting here of two Church councils in 1095 and 1132, its active zeal as a memmeaning soft, or low; used in contra- PIANO (Italian), in music, a term century, the sacking of it by Francesco Sforza in 1447, and its union with Parma. Pop. about 40,000.
PIANO (Italian), in music, a term meaning soft, or low; used in contradistinction to for perlative of piano. forte. Pianissimo, the su- PIANOFORTE (Italian piano soft, hammers, acted on by levers called keys. of which are produced by blows from fects), a musical instrument, the sounds producing both soft and loud efits p by blows from of which are produced by hammers, acted on by levers called keys.
Originally the strings were placed in a small and portable cox, and struck by hammers held in the hands. In this early shape, known as the "dulcimer," the instrument can be traced in nearly every part of the globe, and it now survives, almost in its original form, both in Europe and Asia. The dulcimer was also called psaltery, sautrie, or sawtry.
The name given to the first instrument with keys acting on hammers was clavicytherium, or keyed cithara, which was introduced in the 15th, or early in the 16th century; next came the clavichord, or clarichord, sometimes called monochord, in which quills plucked the strings; the VIRGINAL (q. v.) soon followed; this was succeeded by the spinet, of similar construction but generally triangular in shape; then came the harpsichord, a vast improvement on its predecessors, having a more extended compass and often two manuals. The earliest form of pianoforte, early in the 18th century, was perhaps, in some respects, inferior to a fine harpsichord, but it pos- tury, was perhaps, in some respects, in- form of pianoforte, early in the 18th censessed the elements of expansion, as now exhibited in a modern grand trichord pianoforte of more than seven octaves exhibited in a modern grand trichord sessed the elements of expansion, as now compass, with every gradation of sound.