PIACEN'ZA, a city of n. Italy, in province of the same name, on the right bank of the Po, 2 m. below the confluence of the Trehbia with that river, and 36 m. w.n w. of the city of Parma. Beautifully situated on a fine plain, confined on the s.-by well-cultivated hills, the city itself is gloomy and desolate in appearance. Its street are broad and regular—that called the Stradone is one of the most beautiful in Italy—but many of them are unfrequented and grass-grown. It contains numerous palaces, and about 50 churches. The cathedral, an edifice in the ancient Lombard style, founded in the 11th e., is famous for the richly-curious and grotesque character of its internal deco rations, for its numerous sculptures, its paintings, and for a number of frescos of great grandeur, by Caraccio, Guercino, and others. The church of Sant' Antonio, the original cathedral of Piacenza, was founded in 324 A.D., but has been several times rebuilt. Among the other principal buildings ate the palazzo Farnese, founded in 1553, and once a sumptuous edifice, but which has been long in use as a barrack; the palazzo del Com mune, and the dei Mercanti are fine monuments of art. The principal square is the Piazza Cavan', so called from the colossal bronze equestrian statues of the dukes Alessandro and Rammecio Farnese. This town occupies by far the most important
position in a military point of view, in Italy—a fact which wastully appreciated by those who fortified it with solid walls and a strong castle, which, till 1839, were guarded by the Austrians. On being forced from the city by the war of 1859, the Austrians did not destroy the works, and the Italian government has strengthened and extended them by the for mation of externally-defended works, and of a formidable intrenched camp, which unites and protects the other works 9n the right bank of the Po. Manufactures of silks, his thins, linens, hats, etc., on to some extent. The population, which had rather decreased during the previous 10 years, was 34,985 in 1872.
Piacenia, called by the Humans Placentia, on account of its pleasing situation, is first mentioned in 219 u.c., when a Roman colony was settled there. In 200 me. it was plundered and burned by the Gauls, but rapidly recovered its prosperity, and was long an important military station. Piacenza was the western terminus of the great tEmilian road, which begun at Ariminum on the Adriatic. In later :fistory it plays au important part as one of-the independent Lombard cities.