Duchy of Parma and Piacenza , the northern Italian cities Parma and Piacenza with their dependent areas has been from the Pope from the Papal States separated Paul III. In 1545 and made a hereditary duchy for his son, Pier Luigi Farnese (died 1547). It was created by the Farnese family preserved until the family's extinction in 1731, when it passed to the Spanish Bourbons in the person of Don Carlos (the future Charles III From Spain). Except for a brief hiatus, the Spanish Bourbons controlled the duchy until 1808, when it was officially annexed France as Department from Taro.
1814 passed the Congress of Vienna the duchy to Napoleon's wife Marie-Louise . With their deaths in 1847, Parma and Piacenza were returned to the Bourbons, whose reign was regularly plagued by revolution and assassination. Louise de Bourbon-Berry, regent for her young son Robert, transferred her powers on June 9, 1859 to a provisional government which paved the way for the annexation of Parma and Piacenza Piedmont leveled. Sardinia in March 1860. Piedmont-Sardinia became 1861 Part of kingdom Italy .