Piazzale delle Crociate

This square is in the western part of the city where a long time ago it delimited the boundaries of Piacenza city together with the Farnesiane walls. In the area where today you can see Piacenza hospital, Vittorio Emanuele care home, and Santa Maria di Campagna basilica, Pope Urbano II in the spring of 1095 gathered here the Council that preceded the official opening in Clermont of the first crusade in the Holy Land. On the square

you can see the splendid Santa Maria di Campagna basilica, which is among the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in northern Italy.