from Italie pittoresque: Tableau historique et descriptif de l'Italie, du Piémont ... par Jacques Marquet de Norvins, 1836

Plaisance, la seconde capitale de l'archiduchesse Marie-Louise, est une grande ville plus triste encore et plus abandonnée que Parme, sa soeur jumelle... La nature a cependant beaucoup fait pour elle et l'a environnée de collines pittoresque et de plaines fertiles. Ont retrouve à Plaisance les traces d'une ville qui fut riche et importante dans son temps; ses rues sont larges et bien alignées: celle du Corso passe pour l'une des plus longues de l'Italie. Mais elle souffrit tallement dans les guerres du quinzieme et du seizieme siecle, qu'elle ne presente plus q'une ruine vivante de qu'elle etait jadis.

from Observations on Italy by John Bell, 1835

A refreshing breeze had succeeded to the oppressive heat of an intensely warm day; the low declining sun, now setting behind the hills, cast a lengthened shadow over the landscape, and gave a pleasing variety to unwooded but rural and richly-cultivated scenery. It was Sunday, and the streets of the city were filled with well-dressed people, most of whom, especially the women, were tall and handsome. There were no carriages; no crowding or bustling in the streets; the whole presenting a character of quiet serenity, which pleasingly reminded me of the Sabbath of a long summer day in a country town of Scotland. Placentia, or Piacenza, is finely situated on a great plain, between the Po and the Trebia, not far from the junction of these two rivers, having received this appellation from the Romans, on account of its delicious situation. Placentia has nothing of the grandeur of an ancient city; neither does it offer any of the finer features of modern structures; but may be described as presenting a pretty and cleanly aspect, giving the idea of a small town, in which nothing of the bustle of trade appears; and where much of simplicity and equality in manner and station is to be found.

from L'Italie, la Sicile, Malte, la Grèce, l'Archipel, les îles Ioniennes et la ... par Jean Giraudeau de St. Gervais, 1835

Plaisance, ville située sur la droite du Pò, est entourée de ramparts en terre, qui sont la promenade favorite des habitans. Comme défense, ces ramparts seraient une dérision; la mitraille n'aurait rien à faire pour s'en emparer, la fusillade mème serait du luxe. On croirait, en entrant à Plaisance, pénétrer dans un désert; et pourtant quelques édifices remarquables, encore debout, attestent l'ancienne splendeur d'une cité où François-Sforze commit, en 1448, tant de sacriléges dévastations. Jamais, depuis lors, Plaisance n'a pu se relever. Nous l'avond trouvée morte aux plaisirs et aux agitations des autre ville d'Italie, et nous l'avons quittée comme on quitte un cercueil.

from The narrative of a journey, undertaken in the years 1819, 1820 & 1821 by James Holman, 1834 (fifth edition)

Our remaining companions were an old gentleman with a young wife, returning home to Piacenza; he was a captain in the army of the Dutchess of Parma. ... At an early hour, we arrived at Placentia, where our companion and his lady left us, having arrived at their own residence; their characters appeared it be of a negative kind: he a quiet, good sort of an old man; she, a pleasant and amaible young woman, sufficiently silent and reserved, probably from the laudable motive of not wishing to give rise to any unpleasant feeling in his mind; and actuated by such motives, they might be, and probably were, as happy as if no disparity of years had existed: for it is in the qualities of the mind, and not of the person, that conjugal felicity is dependant.

"It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie;
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind,
In body and in soul doth bind"(1)

We arrived at the inn amidst a heavy fall of rain, and every thing felt cold and dismal; our horses and driver were apparently wearied out, although we had only travelled thirty-two miles, and this over a good level road. Placentia, or Piacenza, is a fine city on the banks of the Po, but the state of the weather prevented us from exploring it.

1. Sir Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel (canto V, st. 13)

from Memoir and Correspondence of the Late Sir James Edward Smith, 1832

June 5th (1787) we dined at Firenzuola and slept at Piacenza, a little fortified town, not badly built, but paved like Norwich.

from Italy by Josiah Conder, 1831

It is a handsome, though not a large city, surrounded with earthen ramparts, and defended by a castle, but is far from being a strong place. The population was estimated in 1823, at 28,000. The Piacenzan nobility are comparatively wealthy as well as numerous. Unenlivened, however, by the residence of any court, being now but the secondary town of a secondary State, the city has a very dull appearence. 'To judge by its silent, empty streets,' says Lady Morgan, 'and its dismantled edifices, it seemed to have been lately swept by pestilence, or depopulated by famine. This desolate appearance is partly owing to the economy of the palaces. The lower windows, without glass, are filled with massive iron bars, and look like prisons. The shutters of the windows of the second floors are ususally closed; and the third story is too high to catch attention. This is the general aspect of the great houses, as the South is approached, particularly in the smaller cities'.

from Notes on Italy by Rembrandt Peale, 1831

A little leisure before dark was sufficient to survey the city of Piacenza, a fortified city of thirty thousand inhabitants, in the midst of an immense plain. The public square is ornamented with two bronze Equestrian statues of Parmesan dukes, presenting the greatest amount of bronze in a whirlwind of motion that I ever saw fixed in statuary. These statues were in front of an old Gothic, town-hall-like looking building, the name of which I in vain inquired of the shopkeepers who had it before their eyes every day. Several of the old churches show that the arts were formerly not unknown here, some of the frescoes being executed with much spirit. The cathedral is a Gothic building, the inside of which possess great grandeur from the height of its arches, and the magnitude of its columns. It is profusely ornamented with paintings.

from Letters from the Continent by Weever Walter, 1828

The following day we passed through Piacenza, the ancient Placentia; it stands pleasantly enough on the banks of the Po, and contains some fine buildings, which being chiefly constructed with brick, it wants that lightness and grandeur which most of the large Italian towns present, at least in their public edifices.