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.
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