The Palazzo Farnese is Piacenza's largest and most imposing building — a massive Renaissance palace begun in the 16th century but never completed, so that the courtyard still has one unfinished brick facade giving directly onto a formal garden. The building now houses the Musei Civici di Palazzo Farnese, which contains several distinct collections: archaeology, medieval art, Pinacoteca (painting gallery), a carriage museum, and most notably the Bronze Liver of Piacenza.
The Liver of Piacenza (Fegato di Piacenza) is a small bronze model of a sheep's liver from the 2nd–1st century BC, used by Etruscan haruspices (priests specializing in divination from animal entrails) as a teaching aid or divination map. The liver is divided into sections labeled with the names of Etruscan deities, making it one of the most complete records of the Etruscan divine universe that exists. It was found in a field near Piacenza in 1877 and remains one of the most unusual objects in Italian archaeology — a glimpse into a religious practice that was already ancient when Rome rose to power.