Given its location, at the crossroads of four regions, it is, indeed, an open door to Emilia, founded on the banks of the Po and surrounded by hills and by the Apennine Mountains. A Roman colony, and then an important medieval centre, it has always been a perfect stop for princes and pilgrims, crusaders and Templars, merchants and artists who left a mark of their passage.

The first urban centre dates back to 218 BC, when six thousand Romans founded “Placentia”, leaving visible signs in the layout of the city, which is square shaped. The two World Wars saw a significant participation of soldiers from Piacenza who, unfortunately, lost their lives, so that in 1996 President Scalfaro gave the city a gold medal of military valour for the commitment of Piacenza during the struggle for liberation from the Nazi-fascist dictatorship. Not just castles or coastal towns, not just rows of poplar trees along the banks or typical food, but all of this in a delicate combination of opportunities. Travelling along the Po, you will discover forgotten landscapes and panoramas, the geography, the birdlife and botanical heritage of its basin.

Along the road, you will find places that have stories and anecdotes to tell about the people who have lived along the riverbanks for thousands of years. The surrounding areas are characterized by a varied landscape alternating plains, hills and mountains. From Val Tidone and its gentle hills and characteristic vines, to the green Trebbia Valley, enclosed by the river, up to the Val Nure, with its peaks characterized by rocky outcrops, ponds, meadows and woods, and Val d’Arda, opening with well-preserved traces of the prehistoric sea that once covered part of it. Without forgetting the Po and Bassa Piacenza, an area dominated by the rhythms of flood and dry seasons of the Great River.

Nature, art towns (Bobbio, Castell’Arquato, Grazzano Visconti and Vigoleno), castles, sports and flavours: everything you need to enjoy an unforgettable holiday in Piacenza.