Piacenza

...quite a small city.
Piacenza is situated on the right bank of the River PO and it’s about 60 Km far from Milan, a more famous Italian city.
Piacenza was probably founded in 218 b.C., when the Romans settled the colony called “Placentia” to face the barbarians who came from the north.
Piacenza was very important during the Middle Ages, when it became the seat of a prosperous town council. After the medieval period, ...
...the Emperor.
In 1848 Piacenza was the first town that joined the Sardinia Kingdom, the draft of the Italy Kingdom who would be born in 1861. For this reason it was called “the firstborn”.
In Piacenza you can find a lot of beautiful and interesting monuments. The most important ones are:

S.ANTONINO CHURCH
It was built in the IV century. It’s a Romanesque church, but its inside was decorated in ... more

Today I’d like to talk about the town where I live, Piacenza. I like living here because it’s quite a small city.
Piacenza is situated on the right bank of the River PO and it’s about 60 Km far from Milan, a more famous Italian city.
Piacenza was probably founded in 218 b.C., when the Romans settled the colony called “Placentia” to face the barbarians who came from the north.
Piacenza was very important during the Middle Ages, when it became the seat of a prosperous town council. After the medieval period, it was governed by some important noble families, like The Viscontis, The Farneses and The Borbonis and was alternatively dominated by The Austrians, The French and also by Napoleon the Emperor.
In 1848 Piacenza was the first town that joined the Sardinia Kingdom, the draft of the Italy Kingdom who would be born in 1861. For this reason it was called “the firstborn”.
In Piacenza you can find a lot of beautiful and interesting monuments. The most important ones are:

S.ANTONINO CHURCH
It was built in the IV century. It’s a Romanesque church, but its inside was decorated in a baroque style. It had been dedicated to the patron saint of the town.

DUOMO (Cathedral)
Its building took more than a century from 1122 to 1233. It’s a very beautiful big Romanesque church with a tall bell tower which has a golden angel on his top.

PALAZZO GOTICO (Gothic Palace)
It was the town council palace and was built in the 13th century. It’s one of the most beautiful Italian civic palaces and it’s situated in a square called “Piazza Cavalli – Square of Horses” . This name is due to two equestrian statues which are dedicated to Alessandro and Ranuccio Farnese, one of the families who governed Piacenza.

PALAZZO FARNESE (The Farneses’ Palace)
It had to be the residence of The Farneses, but its building began at the half of the XVIth century and it never ended, because almost after two centuries The Farneses became extint and the palace was left partly incomplete at its inside.
It’s now the seat of the municipal museum, of a coaches museum and of an art gallery.

PALAZZO DEL GOVERNATORE (The Governor’s Palace)
Situated opposite of the Gothic Palace, it was built in the XVIIIth century and was the seat of the various Governors’ offices. Nowadays it’s the seat of the local Chamber of Commerce and of an important national bank.

Besides these monuments in Piacenza you can find a lot of other very interesting ancient churches and beautiful palaces. Most of the palaces were built among the XVIth and the XVIIth century and they usually have very beautiful courtyards with splendid gardens.

In the town centre you can enjoy yourself also by going shopping because there are a lot of nice shops. After shopping you can have a good lunch or dinner in one of the typical restaurants of the town. The most famous typical restaurants are “La Pireina” and “Agnello”, where you can eat the very good Pisarei (see my op).

In the end, I hope you’ll visit my town in one of your journey to Italy: it isn’t as famous as other cities like Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples or Milan, but you could find it very interesting and you could enjoy it very much even if the climate isn’t very good! In fact there is very hot in summer and very cold and foggy in winter and apart from cinemas and theatres, ther’s not much to do in the evenings. So you can relax!
 

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