Our tour of medieval Piacenza begins in Piazza Cavalli, which was built on the site of the ancient Roman military camp. Evidence for this is the inscription on stone "haec est ara Bellonae" ("this is Bellona's altar") found in 1281 while the foundations of the Town Hall, better known as Palazzo Gotico, were being dug. In Latin mythology, Bellona was wife and sister to Mars, the god of war.
The imposing structure of the Palazzo Gotico thus dominates the original town centre. Its construction started in 1281 and was promoted by Alberto Scoto, merchant leader and Ghibelline* lord of the city, the descendant of a Scottish knight who had come to Piacenza in the retinue of Charlemagne.

It was designed by local masons, perhaps with the help of workmen from Como. To make space for it, a convent and a church dedicated to St. Bartholomew were pulled down.

Built in ogival Lombard style, with cornices decorated with little arches, swallow-tailed Ghibelline crenellations, a central bell turret, and two side turrets, it is a fine example of medieval secular architecture, whose neat structure rivals many similar buildings in the north for beauty and quality of proportions.

The upper part, in Romanesque style, with round arches housing slender three-light windows, rests on a marble Gothic loggia of pointed arches. The contrast between the pink marble of the lower part and the geometric brickwork of the large upper windows creates an effect of astonishing elegance. Special attention should be given to the rose window and the weathered cornice on the narrow elevation with three arcades, suggesting the possible influence of religious architecture. To be noted here is the lower extension of the building, which remained unfinished. The twelfth-century statue of Madonna with Child, which used to be housed in a niche of the faÁade, is now kept in the Museo Civico (the town museum) and has been replaced by a copy. The great hall of the palace (40 X 16 metres), with its timber ceiling and pictorial decorations, has been restored and is now used for functions.

The relief on the lunette of the portal, showing St. Francis receiving the stigmata (c.1480), is worthy of note.
From Piazza Cavalli, through via XX Settembre, we reach Piazza del Duomo (the Cathedral square), the other focus of city life in Piacenza. Its present plan dates back to the mid-sixteenth century, to the times of Pope Paul III Farnese, who wished to revamp the town before giving it to his son Pier Luigi as part of the dukedom of Parma and Piacenza. The Cathedral looks over the square (see File 1). From Piazza Duomo, through via Chiapponi, we reach via Scalabrini and the church of Sant'Antonino, one of the most significant examples of religious architecture for its complex iconography. It began its life as an Early Christian church, built between 350 and 375 by San Vittore, first bishop of Piacenza, and was consecrated to Sant'Antonino, the town patron saint, a Roman soldier who suffered martyrdom near Travo and whose relics are kept in an urn under the high altar. It was the town Cathedral from the fourth to the ninth century. 

Built in 903 by bishop Everardo and rebuilt around the year 1000 by the Benedictine bishop Sigifredo after the devastations caused by the Hungarian invasions, the church was consecrated in 1107 by bishop Aldus. The remains of San Savino, second bishop of Piacenza (d. 420), are kept in the crypt.
Restoration work carried out at the beginning of the century unveiled two precious twelfth-century polychrome mosaics.
The first one in the presbytery represents Time forever spinning, with men trying in vain to hold it, whereas it can only be put to good use by practising the four Cardinal Virtues of Prudence (chess players checking their moves), Fortitude (knights in arms), Temperance (a man refraining from drinking), and Justice (a king abiding by the law). The second one in the crypt consists of medallions depicting the months and signs of the Zodiac, as well as man's labours appropriate to the time of year, on a background of a rough sea. The Lombard Romanesque interior is decorated with beautiful anthropomorphic capitals ornate with foliage, tendrils, human and monstrous creatures animated with demoniacal vitality. On display above the altar is a beautiful twelfth-century wooden Crucifix by an unknown artist.
We continue our tour of Romanesque Piacenza by tracing our steps back through via Roma, towards via Borghetto. From via Borghetto, past the Bank of Italy building, we reach the church of Sant'Eufemia. The earliest core of the building was begun before the year 1000, but only after 1100 did the church acquire its final layout under bishop Aldus. The slender arcades carried on columns decorated with precious Romanesque capitals date from that period. The predominantly brick interior has three aisles with the end apses divided by pilasters. Tradition has it that bishop Aldus wished to be buried in the church, but his remains have never been found, unlike those of Santa Eufemia, which were brought to light in 1091.
The church of Santa Brigida overlooks Piazza Borgo. It was begun in the ninth century, rebuilt in the thirteenth century and extensively restored in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the faÁade was entirely redone. The bell tower was built only a few decades ago. The Romanesque interior underwent alterations in Gothic style which have modified the original order

From the Knights Templars to the Dominican Friars

The church of San Giovanni in Canale, in via Beverora, was founded in 1220 by the Dominican Friars, who built the church next to a stream on a site owned by the Knights Templars, whose cloister was destroyed in the Second World War. Around the mid-sixteenth century, three bays were added towards the faÁade and the choir was extended. The building was repeatedly restored but still retains several medieval features.