The Piazza dei Cavalli — Square of the Horses — is named for the two massive equestrian statues of Alessandro Farnese and Ranuccio I Farnese that stand at its centre. The statues, cast by Francesco Mochi in the early 17th century, are generally considered the finest equestrian bronzes of their era — better than any in Rome or Milan. The horses have an energy and movement that contemporary equestrian statues rarely achieved; Mochi was experimenting with the possibilities of the medium in ways that influenced subsequent sculptors.
The piazza is flanked by the Gothic Palazzo Gotico and the Palazzo del Governatore. It functions as the social centre of the city, with café terraces and a regular market. The combination of the Gothic civic palace, the baroque monuments, and the Romanesque cathedral towers visible behind creates a characteristically Italian layering of different centuries in a single view.