Bardi

Bardi stands in the upper Ceno valley where the Noveglia joins the river. Above the town rises the castle of the Landi, built on a spur of red jasper. The Landi family of Piacenza acquired Bardi in 1257 and made the fortress the centre of a lordship that endured for centuries.

Piacenza held the castle for a time before Emperor Henry VII returned it to Umbertino II Landi in 1307. In 1381 Gian Galeazzo Visconti recognized the Landi as independent, and they obtained full autonomy in 1415. Federico Landi and his daughter Polissena renewed the castle during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and established a college of notaries. In 1682 Polissena's son Dario ceded Bardi to Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, bringing the long rule of the Landi to an end.