Piazza dei Cavalli

Piazza dei Cavalli[1] is one of the oldest and main public squares in the historic center of the city of Piacenza, Italy.

This square, unlike the latter, is mainly ringed by secular buildings relating to the political and business community.

The statues were designed by Francesco Mochi and commissioned on occasion of the arrival to Piacenza of Margherita Aldobrandini, the wife of Ranuccio I Farnese.

The steed of the former horseman, who acquired a reputation as a brutal tyrant, appears tamed relative to that of Alessandro.

The bas-reliefs at Alessandro's base depict military service of the Duke performed with Catholic armies: the capture of Antwerp in 1585 and relieving the Siege of Paris (1590).