Dreary is how I would describe the morning weather.  We just wanted to go walking and explore.  First we turned onto Corso Cavour to see the huge museum (archeological artifacts), but neither of us wanted to go inside.  We turned around and walked in the other direction towards the pedestrian area and Piazza Cavalli, with the two big horse statues.  Ken observed that they are honoring horses in the piazza while they are a menu item on every restaurant in town.

The Palazzo Gotico (Gothic) and the Palazzo Mercanti (Merchants) seemed to be one big building together.  Probably lack of education on my part.

Inside, is like a small, modern mall with the old frescoes preserved on the high walls:

Outside there is a section dedicated to the fallen from both WWI and WWII.  So many local lives were lost.

We walked on, window shopping and went into the Coin to pretend we might buy something. I had to take this surreptitious shot of the “Iris Apfel”of Piacenza:

Then we turned down a side street to find a huge brick church.  We both assumed it was the duomo, but afterwards found out it is the Basilica of San Antonino, originally built in the 4th century and restored over time..  The big organ on the wall was being tuned and some of the notes went right through me.  It was interesting watching the team of tuners do their work:

On the main altar are the relics of St. Antonius:

Our flaneuring continued and the dreary turned into drizzle.  I spotted this pretty courtyard and gate:

We got some panini at a great spot called Panini Gourmet and took them up to the apartment for lunch and an extended rest.  It was raining hard so we binge watched 3 episodes of Nobody Wants This on Netflix.

We took one more walk and found this construction site and 2 women sitting in a small tent gathering signatures to protest.  Paradise to a parking lot.  This says “Let’s save the trees”:

We had a dinner reservation a 8:00.  We were the first customers, to arrive but the place was full by the time we left.  Da Renato is a small local and historic trattoria about a 1 minute walk from the apartment.  The owner (who had inherited the restaurant from her father) was very friendly and helpful.  We asked her for the typical foods of Piacenza and we ate well.  The pisaréi e fasö is a hearty bowl of little gnocchi and borlotti beans with some tomato.  We also had another pasta dish and pork ribs braised in red wine and vegetables.  And enjoyed a bottle of the local Gutturnio, a red sparkling wine.  It drank like soda.  Even though we shared the secondo it was way too much food!

Came back here fat and happy, hoping to see the sun and dry streets at least once before we leave.