. PIACENZA. The capital of the Province of Piacenza, Italy. situated on the right bank of the Po, two miles below its confluence with the Trebbia, 43 miles southeast of Milan (Map: Italy. 1) 2). The city is gloomy desolate in appearance. though its thoroughfares art' broad not regular. The Stradone is Olk' of the most beautiful streets in Italy. Piacenza oc cupies a position of great strategic importance, and is fortified with solid walls and a strong castle. The Italian has strength ened and extended these fortifications by the con struetion of external defensive works, and by a formidable intrenched camp. The city has nu merous tine palaces and churches. The attractive cathedral, an edifice in the Lombard-Romanesque style, founded in the eleventh century, is interest ing for the grotesque character of its interior decorations. it has frescoes by Guereino and L. Carracci. The Church of Sant' .Antonino, the original Cathedral of Piacenza, has been several times rebuilt. Santa Maria di Campagna has excellent mural paintings by Pordemme. The noteworthy San Sisto. an ancient church rebuilt in the 1Zenai,,ance, gave its name to Raphael's Sistine Madonna. 1mong the other principal buildings are the immense Palazzo Farnese, be gun in 1558 and never completed, once famous, but now serving as barracks; the fine Palazzo Municipale, dating from the thirteenth century, with its arched arcades and pinnacles; and the Palazzo (lei Tribbunali with curious courts, now in ruins. The principal square is the Piazza de'
Cavalli, so called from the colossal bronze eques trian statues of the 1)ukes Alessandro and Ranuc cio Farnese. There arc a public library with over 130.000 volumes. a splendid theatre built in 180:3, two new theatres, several hospitals, and an arsenal. Piacenza has manufactures of silk, cot ton and woolen goods, hats, pottery, and ma chinery, and a trade in wine, grain. cheese, and marble from its quarries. Population (com mune), in BSI, :34,987; in 1901. 36,064.
Piacenza, the ancient Placentia, was founded by the Romans in Be. 210. In B.C. 200 it was plundered and burned by the Gauls, but recov ered its prosperity with the construction of the :Emilia]] military road, which had its western terminus here. In the twelfth century it became a member of the Lombard League. In 1545 Pia cenza, along with Parma, was erected into a duchy for the Farnese family. (See PARMA. ) An important battle occurred here in 1746 in which the allied French and Spaniards were defeated by the Austrians. Consult Giarelli, Storia di Piacenza (Piacenza. 1889).