Art and Culture
What would you do if you were married to a man you didn't love, but who was extremely rich and powerful? Margaret of Austria (1522-86), Charles V's blood daughter, chose to stand by her husband Ottavio Farnese and live in Piacenza. Instead, she turned her devotion to her son Alessandro Farnese, who would later become Europe's most renowned captain. Still, Margaret hankered for the dreamlike opulence she had seen in the grandest courts of that time. So she had a fabulously grand palace planned for her – never mind if the medieval castle of the Visconti family had to be demolished to make room for it. In its turn, however, Margaret's palace also went down in history. This is how the Palazzo Farnese (1558) was built and became one of the finest princely palaces in Italy, thus making the perfect starting point for a tour of Piacenza. Despite the fact that Margaret's plans were never fully accomplished, the palace is huge: three floors, grand staircases, frescoed rooms, several museums, a picture gallery with a precious Tondo by Botticelli and a vast basement where as many as 50 antique coaches and carriages are still kept. Piacenza bears many other traces of the House of Farnese. First of all, two of Europe's finest bronze equestrian monuments, those of Alessandro Farnese and his son Ranuccio, after which the nicest square in Piacenza was named Piazza Cavalli (Square of the Horses).
The square is dominated by the symbol of Piacenza, Il Gotico or Palazzo del Comune (Town Hall), an elegant example of Lombard-Gothic architecture, porticoed and topped by fishtail battlements. It was built by a Guelph merchant, Alberto Scoto, in 1281, at the time of strife between Guelphs and Ghibellines. The church of San Francesco, just off the square, is full of works of art such as a moving Pietà. A few steps away you will find Piazza Duomo and the impressive Romanesque cathedral built in pink marble (12th century). Another sight you can't miss is the Teatro Municipale (1804), whose facade resembles that of La Scala in Milan: it was planned by Alessandro Sanquirico, a stage designer at La Scala, who also decorated the interiors of the Municipale. The other stage of Piacenza is the Teatro dei Filodrammatici, formerly the 16th-century church of Santa Franca, converted into a theatre in the early 20th century. Its current facade in Art-Nouveau style was designed by the local architect Gazzola. Housed in a building in Neoclassical style at Via San Siro 13, the Galleria Ricci-Oddi contains 850 paintings and sculptures dating from the 19th and 20th centuries including works by Boccioni, Carrà, Campigli, Funi, De Pisis. Just out of the town centre, along the Via Emilia, Collegio Alberoni houses a collection of Flemish tapestries and a picture gallery including a superb Ecce Homo by Antonello Messina, beside the Museum of Natural Sciences (Museo di Scienze Naturali) and an observatory.
INFO
IAT( Tourist office) Piacenza
Tel. +39 0523 329 324
Musei Civici di Palazzo Farnese
Tel. +39 0523 328 270
www.musei.piacenza.it
Galleria d’Arte Moderna Ricci Oddi
Tel. +39 0523 320 742
www.comune.piacenza.it
Collegio Alberoni
Tel. +39 0523 577 011
