Palazzo Farnese is a palace in Piacenza, northern Italy. History This large partly constructed palace is located on the banks of the River Po in the city of Piacenza in Northern Italy. Ottavio Farnese inherited the Duchy of Parma from his father Pier Luigi Farnese, who was assassinated in a coup in 1547. In the aftermath of the assassination Spanish troops under the command of Ferrate Gonzaga occupied both Parma and Piacenza, however, Ottavio didn’t rescind his claim to the duchy and, in 1551, was able to retake Parma with the help of the King of France Henry II of France, nonetheless Piacenza remained in Spanish hands until 1557 when, after the abdications of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, both Margaret and Ottavio traveled to Brussels to meet Philip II of Spain who negotiated an agreement which made the duchy a Spanish fief and allowed Piacenza back to the Farnese family (though Spanish soldiers were to be stationed in Piacenza's citadel). The palace was commissioned by Ottavio's wife, Margaret of Austria, daughter of Emperor Charles V. The new edifice was erected over a former fortress built by the Visconti in 1352, part of which can still be seen. An initial design was made by Francesco Paciotto, from Urbino, and in 1558, the architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, better known as Vignola, was brought in to revise the designs. Vignola had already been commissioned to design the Villa Farnese at Caprarola (Latium) for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the older brother of the Duke. Vignola had to take Piacotto's design into account but significantly revised the design which was presented to the patrons in 1561. The drawings are for a vast palace on a scale paralleled only by the Vatican Palace in Italy; the rectangular plan is 113.25 metres by 88 metres and over 40 meters in height. The building works were entrusted to Giovanni Bernardo Della Valle, Giovanni Lavezzari and Bernardo Panizzari (Caramosino). The actual construction, however, made up only less than a half of Vignola's original project and lacked many of the planned architectural features. The original plan called for a massive rectangular palace with three main floors, three towers, two ceremonial staircases and two spiral ones, each floor was to have two residential complexes (one for Ottavio, another for Margaret) which included an oratory, a chapel, three state rooms, service rooms and a private loggia; and on top of that