PIACENZA. - City and diocese, capital of the province of the same name. Out of a population of 350,000 inhabitants it counts 348,000 Catholics. The diocese is divided into 42 vicariates with 354 parishes, of which 14 are in the city, 12 in the suburbs and 78 in the province of Parma; it has 360 diocesan priests and 125 regulars, two seminaries; 10 male religious communities and 103 female ones (1948).
The origin of the city of P. is generally fixed at the year 214 B.C. It lies in a vast and fertile plain, close to the hills and on the left bank of the Po; Strabo, Tacitus, Plutarch etc., indicate it as "one of the most celebrated cities of the regions around the Po"; "a city illustrious and flourishing like any other in Italy", "a bulwark most powerful in strength and wealth" and, in the age of Octavian Augustus, the regional capital of the whole Cispadane country. It is asserted that its first inhabitants were the Ligurians, at least on the right bank of the Po, and the Taurisci, and on the left the Insubres. The Veliati were Ligurians, as is learned from the Tabula Alimentaria Traiana, now in the Museum of Parma; then came the Gauls and perhaps the Etruscans.
Following the deduction of a Latin colony, in the first year of the Second Punic War, P. found itself an integral part of the Roman Republic, then as a municipium, which Cicero called "a municipium singularly deserving of itself". In 536 there was fighting between Hannibal and Sempronius near the Trebbia. In the division of Italy into provinces, P. was part of that of Emilia. During the Middle Ages it was part of the Lombard Kingdom, then of that of Italy, it governed itself as a commune and the Pallavicini and the Landi-Scotti held lordship there, until it passed under the dominion of the Visconti and the Sforza; in 1512 Julius II reclaimed the rights that some of his predecessors had exercised there. Paul III transmitted its principality to Pier Luigi (1545-47) to prevent the Spaniards from ruling there; in 1556 Ottavio Farnese re-established there the dominion of his house, which lasted until 1731, when the Bourbons took its place. After the Napoleonic storm, with Parma in 1816 it was assigned to Maria Luigia, widow of Napoleon.
That the Gospel was preached in P. by St. Apollinaris, or by St. Barnabas or by St. Nazarius, or by St. Syrus is a supposition not corroborated by certain attestations; a martyr St. Antoninus is mentioned by Victricius of Rouen at the end of the 4th century and then by the Martyrologium Hieronymianum and came to be confused with the Anonymus Piacentinus (v.) of the 6th century. The first certain bishop is that Sabinus who took part in the Council of Aquileia of 381, venerated as a saint and thaumaturge (Lanzoni, II, p. 814 ff.). In 456 Recitnerus compelled to become bishop of P. that Avitus who had been a welcome emperor in Gaul. After Ravenna became a metropolitan see, P. too was subject to it at least from 580. One of its bishops, John Philagathus, after the expulsion of Gregory V, was created pontiff through the agency of John Crescentius with the name John XVI (Apr. 997-Feb. 998). When P. was removed from subjection to Ravenna by Paschal II in 1106, it was later subjected by Gregory XIII to Bologna in 1582; but Sixtus V restored it to its privilege. When in 1805 Napoleon declared Genoa the capital of the 28th Military Division and subjected to it the Duchy of P., Parma and Guastalla, he obtained from Pius VII in 1806 that those dioceses should be subject to the Metropolitan of Genoa; but later, once the Duchy of Parma was reconstituted, the duchess Maria Luigia obtained by a bull of Pius VII, on 29 March 1818, that the diocese of P. should be immediately subject to the Holy See, as it still is.
CHURCHES AND ABBEYS
In the territory there were the Benedictine abbeys of Mezzano Scotti and of Val di Tolla, of which nothing survives; the title of the second was from 1937 assigned to the bishop pro tempore. The third, that of Chiaravalle della Colomba, erected in the 13th century by the Cistercians, with an admirable church and cloister, was in 1937 reoccupied by the Cistercians of Casamari.
Among the most important churches are remembered: for antiquity, S. Vittore ed Antonino, a basilica that arose toward the end of the 4th century, rebuilt in the 9th and reconstructed in the 11th century. It was formerly the first Cathedral, outside the city walls, and remained so until the year 859, when the new one within the walls was completed, which was dedicated to the martyr St. Justina. It had the form of a Greek cross, radically modified again in the 16th century; in 1350 master Pietro Vago had added to it the most beautiful atrium before the door of the Basilica. A great octagonal tiburium rises ab antiquo at its center, 40 m. high with three orders of bifora windows; beneath it the delegates of the Lombard cities gathered on 20 April 1183 to lay the foundations of the peace that was concluded at Constance: in it the famous Carroccio was preserved. There are paintings by Molinaretto, by Giulio Cesare Procaccini, by Nuvoloni: the vault of the Sanctuary is painted by Camillo Gavasetti, and on the side walls large canvases by Roberto da Longe of episodes of the martyrdom of St. Antoninus; in the chapel of the Sacrament there is a Cena by Bernardo Castelli, and in another a S. Opilio by Bernardo Ferrari of Piacenza. Important is the Archive for papers and documents relating not only to the Church, but also to Piacenza's history: one notes some illuminated choir books, among them two splendid ones of the 15th century, works of priest Giorgio di Muzano and of priest Taddeo.
Having collapsed because of the earthquake of 1117, the old Cathedral was begun by bishop Aldo da Rivergaro in 1122 as the majestic present cathedral in the form of a Latin cross with three naves, 72 m. long, more than 61 m. wide, with a dome 38 m. high, and with a spire bell tower 70 m. high. The crypt remained dedicated to St. Justina, while the upper church was dedicated to the B. Virgin Assumed. In 1608 the painters Procaccini and L. Carracci finished painting the choir and the Sanctuary: in 1627 Guercino da Cento finished painting the dome, a work begun by Mazzucchelli called il Morazzone: from the loggia of the dome downward it was completed by the Bolognese painters Franceschini and Quaini. By the painter Gaspare Landi are the Deposizione di Maria and Il sepolcro trovato vuoto, large canvases on the walls of the choir. Other large paintings by Carracci and Procaccini, removed in order to reopen the matronea on the occasion of the general restoration, promoted in 1900 by bishop Mons. G. B. Scalabrini, found a place in the hall of the Episcopal Palace. The Cathedral possesses ancient codices, parchments in great number, diplomas, privileges, concessions of kings and emperors.
Other churches: S. Francesco, beside Piazza Cavalli, is a grandiose temple in Gothic style with three naves, of which the side ones go to join behind the choir: there is a chapel of the Conception frescoed by Malosso: the Moltiplicazione dei pani by Benedetto Marini; the picture of the Pietà by Bernardo Castelli. S. Savino, an ancient monastery of the Girolamini, is a church with three naves with a crypt, almost at the entrance of the city, built in 903, rebuilt in the 15th century; it was recently restored. S. Sisto was founded in the year 874 by the empress Angilberga: in the form of a Latin cross with 2 domes; among the paintings there are the Siroge degli Innocenti by Procaccini, the Martirio di s. Martino by Leandro da Ponte, the Martirio di s. Rabiano by Paolo Farinata, the S. Barbara by Jacopo Palma the Younger, the Martirio di s. Sisto e s. Lorenzo by Paolo Cavagna: the picture at the center of the choir, which is a work of inlay highly esteemed in its kind, depicts perspectives, castles, little villas, etc. In the church one admires the magnificent mausoleum of the duchess Margherita of Austria, wife of Ottavio Farnese, erected there in 1617: the monastic building still exists, which was among the most illustrious in Italy, now occupied by the Military Engineers, and it had most distinguished men. The church of the S. Sepolcro goes back to the 10th century: then, in 1655, a monastery of Benedictines was united to it with a hospital erected in commendam in 1484; the Olivetans succeeded them, who built in 1513 the present temple in the form of a Latin cross with three naves attributed to Alessio Tramello with graceful mouldings by Bramante, to whom are also owed a corridor and two large round-arched bifora windows above the portico: there are paintings by Rubini, by the hermit Beduschi, by Luca Cattapane, by the Piacenzan Ghittoni, and at an altar a Crucifix by Gabriele Gatti called il Soiario. In 1810 the monastery was suppressed, and the church was restored to worship in 1903. S. Maria di Campagna is, likewise on a design by Tramello, in the form of a Greek cross, founded in 1522. There one admires a S. Giorgio by Soiario, the Annunciata by Stern, a S. Francesco by Procaccini, a S. Agostino and a S. Caterina by Pordenone, etc.: the bronze doors with arabesques and embroideries of excellent execution are by the Milanese Eugenio Bellagio. On that area pope Urban II convoked the great Council of 1 March 1905. The church of S. Agostino, begun in 1570 by the Canons Regular Lateranense, with the adjoining convent was suppressed in 1798. In the facade, entirely of granite, are niches with colossal statues of bishops, and angels at the top of the pediment: the interior is in the form of a Latin cross with five naves, the central one supported by 34 paired Doric columns of granite. The monastery is reduced to a barracks: because of the air raids the great fresco by Gian Paolo
Lomazzo that was in the refectory has been completely destroyed. There is furthermore the church formerly dedicated to St. Mary of Bethlehem of the Humiliati (1180), later granted to the Servites until 1788, dedicated to St. Anne, then of the Carmelites; now it is a parish.
The city boasts magnificent buildings: the Gothic Palazzo del Comune, a work of 1281; that of the governor, the Farnese, and many others of noble families. There are three primary squares, the central one called "dei Cavalli", for two colossal bronze statues representing the dukes Alessandro and Ranuccio I Farnese, a work by Francesco Mochi between 1620-24; the Piazza Cittadella, where the magnificent Palazzo Farnese stands grandly, founded by Margherita of Austria, wife of Ottavio Farnese, in 1558; the Piazza del Duomo, where the majestic Cathedral is admired.
ILLUSTRIOUS CITIZENS OF PIACENZA
The following are remembered for painting: Bartolino da P., who frescoed in the 13th century in the Baptistery of Parma; Giulio Mazzoni, painter and sculptor praised by Vasari; Pier Antonio Avanzini, Felice Boselli, Gian Paolo Pannini; Carlo Maria Viganoni (1788) and Giacinto Rivoni, disciples of Giuseppe Ghirardi at the Istituto Gazzola, Gaspare Landi (1756). Sculptors: Oberto and Pietro da P. for the doors cast in 1196 in St. John Lateran in Rome; Angelo Casalino, engraver of coins for pontiffs and princes, and his son Pompeo for the Farnese Mint; Angelo Spinazzi, a chiseler of great merit of the 18th century. Woodcarvers: Antonio Burlengo, for the grand diptych panel of the Cathedral (1447), Guglielmo da Saliceto, wonder of the Medici (of the 13th century); Giulio Casserio, famous anatomist (16th century); Domenico Ferrari, physician. In law Gian Domenico Romagnosi, jurist; in letters Pietro Giordani, Pietro Gioia, jurist and man of letters, and Melchiorre, philosopher and statesman.
For the politics of their times: Cardinal Pietro Diani and Cardinal Jacopo Pecoraria, Cistercian; Cardinal Vincenzo Maculani, military architect and mathematician of Urban VIII, and Cardinal Giulio Alberoni; the Franciscan orator Cornelio Musso. Most illustrious of all, Tebaldo Visconti, Pope Gregory X, venerated as blessed.
Among the historians: Musso, and the various Ripalta, Pier Maria Campi, Father Stanislao Perdetti, the provost Cristoforo Poggiali, the canon Vincenzo Boselli, the lawyer Antonio Domenico Rossi, Giuseppe Dal Verme, Leopoldo Cerri, etc. - See plate LXXXIV.
