Historical background

• In the II Century B.C. a Roman defensive fortress was probably built as a defence against the Ligurian tribes.
• 565, the little settlement, which had survived the barbarian invasions, was devastated by a terrible plague.
• 756, we have the first records of a baptismal Church in Castell’ Arquato, today the Collegiate Church, which under the nobleman Magno is already an organized court, with its market, administrative and judicial activities. At his death in 789 Magno donated all his possessions to the Bishopric of Piacenza and the medieval town passed under the feudal nomination of the Church until 1220, when the bishop conceded the commune all his possessions in perpetual usage.
• 1220-23, Castell’ Arquato enjoyed a brief period s a free commune, followed by a period under a governor or “podestà” nominated by the City of Piacenza from among the most illustrious families, including the Scotti and the Visconti.
• In 1256 the town, which was allied with the Guelphs, withstood the memorable Ghibelline siege commanded by Pallavicino.
• 1290, the governorship comes to an end when Alberto Scotti becomes Lord of Piacenza and therefore also of Castell’ Arquato. He was driven out in 1304, but returned three years later and governed until 1316, the year of his fierce struggle with Galeazzo Visconti. Visconti besieged the Castle with a powerful force and Scotti defended the citadel with his troops and three thousand peasants. After a long siege he was forced to surrender and the Visconti nomination began. It lasted until 1450.
• In 1342 Luchino Visconti ordered the construction of the present fortress.
• 1450, the town passed to the Sforza dynasty that governed until1707, when the Arquatese territory passed under the nomination of the Duchy Parma and Piacenza. The new lords were the Farnese and the Bourbons until the arrival of Napoleon.
• 1805, the mountain community of the Piacenza area rebelled against the French, devastating the Praetorian Palace Many were executed in the Fortress by French troops.
• 1857 Luigi Illica, librettist and dramatist and Castell’Arquato’s most famous son, is born a stone’s throw from the Monumental Square.
• 1860, the lands of Maria Luisia of Austria pass to the Savoy dynasty and thus to the new United Italy.