Piacenza
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
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 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 Ranuccio Farnese. Manufactures of silks, cottons, 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 member of the Lombard League in the 12th century, the sacking of it by Francesco Sforza in 1447, and its union with Parma. Pop. about 40,000.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 it put Piacenza's population at "about 40,000"; the city now has roughly 100,000 residents and its old bastioned walls and ring of forts have largely given way to boulevards and suburbs. The Palazzo Farnese, dismissed here as barracks since 1800, was restored and now houses the municipal museums, including the celebrated Etruscan bronze liver of Piacenza, a diviner's model unearthed in the countryside nearby. The Sistine Madonna, correctly said to have been sold out of San Sisto in 1754, is still in Dresden: it was carried off to the Soviet Union in 1945 and returned in 1955. Allied bombing in 1944-45 hit the Po bridges and rail yards hard, though the Romanesque cathedral and Sant'Antonino survived, and the city's fame today rests as much on its cured meats and its position as a national logistics hub as on silk and pottery.
Written for this edition, 2026.