From Lodi to Piacenza, thirty-eight kilometres, we made good time. From Milan to Piacenza, and straight on, diagonally, across the peninsula to Rimini, the road, turnless and gradeless, follows the line of the Roman Via Aemilia. One wonders how deep a foundation exists under the broad but dusty modern highway.
Just before Piacenza was reached, we crossed the Po on a plank-covered bridge of boats, whose roughness gave us a good jouncing. We went first to the Palazzo Famese, a large building, now a barrack. The sixteenth century is writ large on this creation of Vignola.
The church of San Sisto is interesting chiefly for the copy of Raphael's Madonna of that name, which replaces the Dresden original. Pordenone, a four-square artist who often fails to do himself justice, is seen in the church of Madonna di Campagna, in some mediocre works. The best of them, representing St. George and the Dragon, had never been photographed, so we had to make shift with our camera. A young priest helped to move some obstructive furniture, a kindness in line with other similar acts of a people among whom courtesy begets courtesy. The result of our effort was a photograph that is too poor to reproduce. The picture gallery contains several good works, among them a "tondo" of the school of Botticelli (a Madonna of the Rose-garden) and a head of Christ by Antonello da Messina, the eyes of which are remarkably sad and piercing. The Municipio, a building with some interesting windows, contains pictures that are not worth a visit. Piacenza's cathedral is very interesting externally and more so internally. Its Lombard style stands the test of a close acquaintance. The remains of early frescoes by unknown hands, which adorn the walls, would surely repay study. Research should add to the meagre data we have concerning them.
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