The province of Piacenza (Italian: provincia di Piacenza) is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. It has a population of 287,542.
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.
The piffero (Italian: [ˈpiffero]) or piffaro is a double-reed musical instrument of the oboe family with a conical bore (Sachs-Hornbostel category 422.112).It is used to play music in the tradition of the Quattro Province, an area of mountains and valleys in the north-west Italian Apennines which includes parts of the four provinces of Alessandria, Genoa, Piacenza and Pavia. It is also played throughout Southern Italy with different fingering styles dictated by local tradition.
The instrument is a descendant of the Medieval shawm and belongs to the family of the bombarde.
The province of Alessandria (Italian: provincia di Alessandria; Piedmontese: provincia ëd Lissandria; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: provinsa ëd Lissändria) is an province of the region of Piedmont in Italy. The capital is the city of Alessandria. It has a population of 407,029 across its 187 municipalities as of 2025.
With an area of 3,558.83 square kilometres (1,374.07 sq mi) it is the third largest province of Piedmont after the province of Cuneo and the Metropolitan City of Turin. To the north it borders on the province of Vercelli and to the west on the Metropolitan City of Turin and the province of Asti. It shares its southern border with Liguria (province of Savona and the Metropolitan City of Genoa). Its south-east corner touches the Province of Piacenza in Emilia Romagna, while to the east it borders on the Lombard province of Pavia.
Calendasco (Piacentino: Calindasch) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 150 kilometres (93 mi) northwest of Bologna and about 9 kilometres (6 mi) northwest of Piacenza.
Calendasco was founded along the Via Emilia; entering the town over the bridge over the Trebbia River is a plaque commemorating the Battle of Trebbia (213 BC) where the army of Hannibal defeated the Romans.
Gênes (French pronunciation: [ʒɛn] ) was a department of the First French Empire in present-day Italy. It was named after the city of Genoa. It was formed in 1805, when the Ligurian Republic (formerly the Republic of Genoa) was annexed directly to France. Its capital was Genoa.
The department was disbanded after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814. It was followed by a brief restoration of the Ligurian Republic, but at the Congress of Vienna the old territory of Genoa was awarded to the Kingdom of Sardinia. Its territory is now divided between the Italian provinces of Genoa, Piacenza, Alessandria and Pavia.
Piacenza (Italian: [pjaˈtʃɛntsa] ; Piacentino: Piaṡëinsa [pi.aˈzəi̯sɐ]; Latin: Placentia) is a city and comune (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more than 102,000 inhabitants.
Westernmost major city of the region of Emilia-Romagna, it has strong relations with Lombardy, with which it borders, and in particular with Milan. It was defined by Leonardo da Vinci as a "Land of passage" in his Codex Atlanticus, by virtue of its crucial geographical location. This strategic location would influence the history of Piacenza significantly at several times.
The Liver of Piacenza is an Etruscan artifact found in a field on September 26, 1877, near Gossolengo, in the province of Piacenza, Italy, now kept in the Municipal Museum of Piacenza, in the Palazzo Farnese.
It is a life-sized bronze model of a sheep's liver covered in Etruscan inscriptions (TLE 719), measuring 126 × 76 × 60 mm (5 × 3 × 2.4 inches) and dated to the late 2nd century BC, i.e. a time when the Piacenza region would already have been Latin-dominated (Piacenza was founded in 218 BC as a Roman garrison town in Cisalpine Gaul).
Taro (French: [ta.ʁo]) was a department of the First French Empire in present-day Italy. It was named after the Taro River. It was formed in 1808, when the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza was annexed by France under the Treaty of Lunéville. Its capital was Parma.
The department was disbanded after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814. At the Congress of Vienna, the Duchy was restored and given to Marie Louise, Napoleon's wife. Its territory is now divided between the Italian provinces of Parma and Piacenza.
Bobbio Abbey (Italian: Abbazia di San Colombano) is a monastery founded by Irish Saint Columbanus in 614, around which later grew up the town of Bobbio, in the province of Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is dedicated to Saint Columbanus. It was famous as a centre of resistance to Arianism and as one of the greatest libraries in the Middle Ages. The abbey was dissolved under the French administration in 1803, although many of the buildings remain in other uses.