Every design for Piacenza

Stand on the right bank of the Po at Piacenza and the river runs wide and flat in front of you. The city sits where the Trebbia comes down from the northern Apennines to meet it, with the Nure joining a little further east and the hills of the Colli Piacentini rising some way to the south.

Its position is the whole story. This is the westernmost major city of Emilia-Romagna, sitting on the crossroads of Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria and Emilia, and Leonardo da Vinci called it a land of passage. The Romans named it Placentia, a good-omen name meaning a pleasant place, and later it became the first capital of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza; Palazzo Farnese, the Basilica di Sant'Antonino and the Basilica di Santa Maria di Campagna date from its long life since. The river also gives the city damp summers and winter fog, which has grown rarer over the years.

Growing up in Piacenza means knowing the Po in all its moods, fog included, and finding your city on the map by the spot where the Trebbia joins it.