Gazzola Institute, Piacenza

When Count Felice Gazola or Gazzola, Lieutenant General of the Spanish Army, Commander and Coronel of artillery, and Commendatore of the Order of Calatrava died in 1780, his will left money to native Piacenza to: maintain and dress six youths working in decorative or figure painting, wood or marble sculpture, architecture, surveying, art of jewel making... and if Piacenza lacked persons able to teach painting, sculpture, and architecture, the youths would be sent to either Parma or Bologna.

[1] He named as administrators of this institute the heads of eight prominent local families: another Conti Gazola, Grassi da Fareneto, Conti Leoni, Caraccioli, Rocca, Cassola, Portapudia, and the Counselor Antonio Francesco Maggi.

[3] Among its early pupils were Innocente Micliavacca (engraver), Gaetano Monti (painter); Davide Testi (engraver); Valerio Rivetti (sculptor), Lorenzo Toncini, Quaglia a manuscript illuminator, and Aspetti, a painter.

The Institute is still localized in the medieval Palace once belonging to the Fontana family, then later to the monastery of San Sisto, until the Count Giovanni Angelo Gazzola obtained it in 1699.

[4] In 1838 the Institute was endowed with 42 works owned by the Doctor Cesare Martelli, that formed the core of its collections.