The Musei Civici di Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza are hosted in the majestic architectural complex that includes the sixteenth-century palace of the Farnese dukes, lords of Piacenza since 1545, and the thirteenth-century citadel, built by the Visconti, who had consolidated their power in the city since the beginning of the fourteenth century. The citadel (1373) was a military building renovated in the fifteenth century and later transformed into the residence of the legates of the Papal State and the first Duke Farnese, Pier Luigi. The Palazzo Farnese was started in 1559 at the behest of Margherita d’Austria (daughter of Emperor Charles V and wife of Ottavio Farnese), who commissioned one of the most famous architects of the time: Jacopo Barozzi, known as Vignola. The architectural structure of the Palazzo - despite several construction campaigns - was never fully completed. Since the end of the twentieth century, the laborious - but successful - rebirth of this splendid architectural complex has begun (since 1982 the seat of the Musei Civici and since 2014 municipal property), which has seen the rich heritage of the city find a worthy and adequate home. Piacenza, since its foundation, has always been a crossroads of cultures and peoples: today, in fact, historical and artistic testimonies ranging from prehistory to the twentieth century are visible.

The rich and varied museum heritage includes:

- Civic and Farnese Collections: a vast collection of sculptures, epigraphs, frescoes, glassware, and ceramics dating from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, mostly from religious buildings or private donations. It also houses an armory: about 400 pieces including examples of both offensive and defensive weapons. Of particular interest are the paintings decorating the Stuccoed Apartment of the Raised Floor, with the celebration of the Farnese Feasts dedicated to Alessandro Farnese and Pope Paul III.

- Museum of Carriages: among the most prestigious in Italy for the variety of pieces and their integrity, particularly significant for the richness of the types exhibited.

- Risorgimento Museum (Autonomous section under the supervision of the Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento - Piacenza Committee): arranged in four rooms, it collects documents, memorabilia, images, and weapons mainly from the years 1848-49 and 1859-61.

- Art Gallery: it houses paintings of various origins from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries and the valuable Rizzi-Vaccari collection, with tempera on panel from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The most important and significant painting is the Madonna Adoring the Child with Saint John by Sandro Botticelli (1476 - 77).

- Archaeological Museum: it is composed of

   > Pre and Protohistory Section with artifacts and evidence from the Piacenza area, from the Lower Paleolithic (200,000 years ago) to the foundation of the Roman city (218 BC).

   > Roman Section documenting the foundation and history of the Roman city through a typological path. Of particular interest are the famous Fegato di Piacenza - a bronze model of a sheep's liver inscribed with the names of deities, constituting a rare testimony of Etruscan religious practices - and the imposing statue by the Athenian sculptor Kleomenes (1st century BC) found following the excavations of 1938 in the main square of the city of Piacenza (Piazza Cavalli).