Piacenza Cathedral

Piacenza Cathedral (Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta e Santa Giustina) is a Lombard Romanesque church begun in 1122 and substantially completed by the mid-13th century, with a campanile added in the 14th century. The facade in red and white striped marble is Romanesque in its lower two-thirds and Gothic in the upper section — the typical Emilian mixture of styles applied to a single building over generations. Two red lions guard the main portal; the carvings on the portal capitals are finely detailed.

The interior is three-aisled with a crypt below the nave — the crypt, with its forest of carved columns, is one of the most atmospheric spaces in the building. The Romanesque nave and the 17th-century frescoes by Guercino in the cupola are the highlights. There are also good 12th-century floor mosaics in the crypt and some early medieval architectural fragments.

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Guercino painted the frescoes in the cathedral's cupola in 1626–1627. He worked with remarkable speed — the four large scenes of the four Evangelists were completed in about a year — and the result is considered one of his finest works. The frescoes are painted in a deliberately illusionistic style that makes the figures appear to be looking down from above; to see them properly you need to lie on your back in the centre of the nave.