Palazzo Farnese (Piacenza)

Palazzo Farnese is a palace in Piacenza, northern Italy.

This large partly constructed palace is located on the banks of the River Po in the city of Piacenza in northern Italy. Ottavio Farnese inherited the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza from his father Pier Luigi Farnese, who was assassinated in a coup in 1547. In the aftermath of the assassination Spanish troops under the command of Ferrante Gonzaga occupied both Parma and Piacenza, but Ottavio refused to renounce his claim to the duchy. He retook Parma in 1551, with the help of King Henry II of France. Piacenza remained in Spanish hands until 1557 when, after the abdications of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, both Ottavio and his wife Margaret of Austria traveled to Brussels to negotiate with Philip II of Spain. It was agreed that the duchy should become a Spanish fief and that Piacenza should be returned to the Farnese family (with a garrison of Spanish soldiers remaining in its citadel).

The palace was commissioned by Ottavio's wife Margaret, daughter of Emperor Charles V. The new edifice was erected over a former fortress built by the Visconti in 1352, part of which can still be seen.

An initial design was made by Francesco Paciotto, from Urbino, and in 1558, the architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, better known as Vignola, was brought in to revise the designs. Vignola had already been commissioned to design the Villa Farnese at Caprarola (Latium) for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the older brother of the duke. Vignola had to take Piacotto's design into account but significantly revised the design which was presented to the patrons in 1561. The drawings are for a vast palace on a scale paralleled only by the Vatican Palace in Italy; the rectangular plan is 113.25 metres by 88 metres and over 40 meters in height.

The building works were entrusted to Giovanni Bernardo Della Valle, Giovanni Lavezzari and Bernardo Panizzari (Caramosino). The actual construction, however, made up only less than a half of Vignola's original project and lacked many of the planned architectural features.

Text adapted from “Palazzo Farnese, Piacenza” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Palazzo Farnese (Piacenza) ranks #2,509 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #197 of the 487 mapped in Italy. Founded c. 1550, it is older than 39% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,756 times in the last 60 days, more than 63% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Milan, 61 km away. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.

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