The province of Piacenza (Italian: provincia di Piacenza) is a province in the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy. It has a population of 287,745 in an area of across its 46 municipalities.
It borders Lombardy (the provinces of Lodi, Cremona, and Pavia) to the north, Lombardy (the province of Pavia) and Piedmont (the province of Alessandria) to the west, the province of Parma to the east, and Liguria (the metropolitan city of Genoa) to the south.
History Prehistory and antiquity The Piacenza territory was inhabited since prehistory, with several settlements in various points of the province, including the area of Sant'Andrea di Travo, which dates back to the late Neolithic period, at the end of the 5th millennium BC, during the spread throughout the territory of northern Italy of the Chasséen culture, which originated in the French area and the San Martino Plain, located in the municipality of Pianello Val Tidone, with findings dating back to the Middle Bronze Age and the Third Iron Age..
The territory was then inhabited by Ligurian, Etruscan and Celtic populations, until the conquest of the area by the Romans to whom is due, in 218 BC, the foundation of the colony of Placentia which became, together with the contemporary Cremona, the first Roman colony of the entire northern Italy. South-west of the city, shortly after its foundation, the Battle of the Trebia was fought between the Carthaginian troops led by Hannibal, who had just won the Battle of Ticinus, and the Roman legions commanded by the consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus who suffered a heavy defeat.
In 187 BC the city was connected with Rimini, located on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, by the Via Aemilia, commissioned by the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, which became the main road axis of the entire north Italy. Subsequently, the Via Aemilia was extended north towards Milan, while Piacenza became a branching point, with the presence of roads connecting it to Tortona and to Susa, the latter passing through Pavia and Turin.
Starting from the 1st century BC the center of Veleia had great development, located in a hilly position in Val Chero derived from a pre-existing Ligurian settlement that became first a colony and then a municipium, maintaining a prominent position until the 3rd century when it declined rapidly, probably due to the landslides to which the area was subject. The Tabula Alimentaria Traianea, a bronze inscription concerning the mortgage loan ordered by Emperor Trajan, was found there in 1747.
Piacenza remained formally a colony until 90 BC when, following the promulgation of the Lex Julia, it became a municipium and saw the assignment to its inhabitants of Roman citizenship. Following this rule, the city was ascribed to the Gens Veturia.
The Piacenza countryside was the scene of the Battle of Piacentia fought in 271 AD by the Roman army, led by the emperor Aurelian, against a contingent of Alemanni and Juthungi who had sacked and burned the city: the invaders had the upper hand and the Romans retreated..
Medieval period
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Piacenza was initially occupied by the Byzantines, then conquered by the Goths led by Totila in 546.. Indicators of Gothic settlements in the surrounding area are, for example, the toponyms Gossolengo and Gódi (a frazione of San Giorgio Piacentino). However, the city was reconquered by Byzantine forces after a few years, but in 570 it was taken by the Lombards, who arrived in Northern Italy two years earlier. They found a center, Piacenza, still quite wealthy despite the general crisis. and in 576 they established a duchy there, probably occupying the Piacenza area at the end of the 6th century..
In 614 the Abbey of San Colombano of Bobbio was founded. The importance of the territory further increased after the foundation of the monastery.
It has been considered that at the end of the 8th century the area was divided into three districts: one consisting of the city of Piacenza and two organized in the countryside, autonomous from the first and located between the Via Aemilia and the Apennines. These would have been respectively fines Placentina between the city and the surrounding plain, iudiciaria Medianense in Val Trebbia and Val Nure, and fines Castriarquatense in the hilly and mountainous area of eastern Piacenza, but further investigations seem to correspond more to an ideal reference scheme than to actual administrative bodies.
Archaeological finds attesting the presence of the Germanic peoples are those of Rottofreno, Gazzola, Pianello Val Tidone, Vigolzone, Bettola, Borgonovo Val Tidone, Ziano Piacentino, Alta Val Tidone, Agazzano, Travo,. Ponte dell'Olio. and Farini..
After becoming a county during the period of domination of the Franks,. the area was repeatedly contested in the last centuries of the millennium, until arriving, in 997, at the granting to the bishop of comital powers over the city by the emperor Otto III. During the 11th century there were several struggles between the popular and aristocratic factions that culminated, in the first part of the following century, in the creation of the medieval commune, a process that was already complete by 1126.
Subsequently, Piacenza took part in the struggles between the communes and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, participating in the Lombard League. Near Piacenza, in an area straddling the Po between Calendasco and Somaglia, between 1154 and 1158, the emperor convened two important diets, the Diet of Roncaglia being the most notable. During the second diet, he asserted regal rights in response to claims made by the communes.
Until 1164 the western extension of the Piacenza area reached the Staffora, incorporating almost entirely the current Oltrepò Pavese: this latter territory was assigned to the Duchy of Pavia by Frederick Barbarossa; a subsequent arbitration in 1188 determined that the Bardonezza stream was the natural border between Piacenza and Pavia..
The advanced agriculture of the Piacenza countryside, the presence of a navigable river and important road axes (Via Aemilia, Mediolanum-Placentia and Postumia), together with the Apennine valleys that guaranteed connections with the Ligurian Sea, in addition to the political importance of the city and territory, revived the economy of Piacenza and surroundings from the 12th century, allowing the creation of significant business relations with Milan, Ferrara, Venice and especially Genoa... In particular, it was the expansion towards the latter city that ensured the success of Piacentine commercial and banking companies,. created and developed thanks to the accumulation of substantial agricultural revenues. The merchant class of Piacenza belonged to the category of businessmen from northern Italy and Tuscany (the Lombards) who practiced credit operations and currency exchange throughout Europe. In the 13th century and 14th century Piacenza bankers and lenders operated in the East, in Paris, Marseille, Montpellier, Nîmes, in Champagne, in Burgundy, in Lisbon, Majorca, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville (where a street is dedicated to them, calle Placentines.).
In the 13th century the domains of Piacenza extended northwards. The territories of San Rocco al Porto, Guardamiglio and Fombio became part of it in 1225, although they were on the left orographic side of the Po already in the early Middle Ages;.. the area of Caselle Landi was annexed instead in 1262,.. while Retegno was long contested between Piacenza and Lodi..
Amid the crisis of communal institutions, Piacenza became a battleground for the city's wealthiest families, who competed for control. In this context emerged the figure of Alberto Scotti who between the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century seized power in Piacenza several times, even briefly conquering Milan, before being definitively defeated by the Visconti forces who conquered Piacenza in 1313. The city remained under the control of the Duchy of Milan until 1499, with the exception of brief periods.
The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza
In 1521, the Piacenza area became part of the Papal States. In 1545 Pope Paul III established the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, placing his son Pier Luigi Farnese at its head. The new state entity included most of the Piacenza area, with the exception of the Bobbio area which continued to remain subject to the Duchy of Milan and the territory of the Stato Pallavicino, located in the low Po Valley which was incorporated into the duchy only later, in 1585.
However, the duke was killed two years later by a conspiracy composed of local noble families. Following this episode the Piacenza area was occupied by the imperial troops of Ferrante I Gonzaga.. The son of Pier Luigi, Ottavio Farnese, managed to retain dominion over Parma, which thus became the capital of the duchy, while the Piacenza area returned under Farnese dominion only in 1585, ceded to Ottavio by Philip II of Spain, with whom he had signed the Treaty of Ghent. Under the government of Ottavio also began the works for the construction of Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza.
In 1636, as part of the war waged by the duke Odoardo I Farnese, allied with the French, against Spain, the city of Piacenza was occupied by the latter. Following the peace agreement, mediated by Pope Urban VIII, the Spaniards abandoned the city the following year in exchange for the breaking of the alliance between the Farnese and the French.
The last duke, Antonio Farnese, died without heirs. In 1731, the ducal throne passed to Charles III of Spain, the son of Elisabeth Farnese and King Philip V of Spain: the new duke Charles I settled in Parma in 1731, however in 1738, with the third Treaty of Vienna which sanctioned the end of the War of the Polish Succession, the crown of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was recognized to Charles, while the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza passed to the Austrians, represented by emperor Charles VI. In 1748 with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle the duchy returned under the dominion of the Bourbon family, with the throne assigned to Philip, brother of Charles.
In 1796, despite the neutrality declared by the duke Ferdinand, the Napoleonic troops entered Piacenza, obtaining a substantial war indemnity. In 1799 the western part of the province was the scene of the Battle of Trebbia, won by the Austro-Russian forces of General Suvorov engaged in his campaign in Italy against the French led by General Étienne Macdonald.
Despite the French occupation Ferdinand formally maintained sovereignty until 1801 when, with the treaties of Lunéville and Aranjuez, the duchy passed under French control, with the counterpart of the ascent to the throne of Etruria of Ferdinand's son Louis. Under French control the Piacenza area was separated from Parma and in 1808 Napoleon appointed Charles François Lebrun titular duke of Piacenza in his name.
In 1814, with the exile of Napoleon to Elba, the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla was assigned to Napoleon's wife, Marie Louise; this decision was then definitively confirmed for life by the Congress of Vienna, despite the claims of the Bourbons, to whom the return of the state was foreseen upon the death of the duchess.
After the death of Marie Louise, she was succeeded on the ducal throne, on 31 December 1847, by Charles II who immediately took some decisions that alienated popular consent. In March 1848 several riots broke out first in Parma and then in Piacenza where on 10 May a plebiscite took place culminating in the request for annexation to the Kingdom of Sardinia. The results of the vote were delivered to King Charles Albert of Sardinia, encamped near Verona, who thus proclaimed Piacenza Firstborn of Italian Unity. After the defeat at Custoza, the city fell again under Austro-Bourbon domination, characterized by strong repression.
From Italian Unification