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In 1612 Ranuccio I Farnese, the reigning Duke of Parma, called Mochi to Piacenza to execute two monumental bronze equestrian statues for Piazza Cavalli, the central piazza in Piacenza, one of the Duke himself and the other of his late father, Alessandro Farnese. The Farnese had recently put down an uprising in Piacenza, and Mochi seems to have designed the statues to make an explicit political statement.
The statue of Ranuccio Farnese, executed first, is linked in style and type to earlier Renaissance models that depicted the rider as peacemaker and statesman, for example Giambologna's Cosimo de' Medici I (1587-93). However, in the statue of Alessandro Farnese, Mochi broke entirely new ground to create the first dynamic equestrian monument of the Baroque. In an unprecedented manner, he used the device of a billowing cloak to unify the rider with the bulk of the horse and to create the illusion of warlike energy. The two statues presented Piacenza with a clear choice between obeisance to an enlightened prince, Ranuccio, or a return to the repressive tactics of an earlier time. Gestures of the riders and the inward tilt of the horses' heads unify the monumental bronzes across the piazza and assert the dynastic continuity of the Farnese.
During the casting, Mochi quarrelled with the founder and took over the job himself; other than Domenico Guidi, he was the only major Roman sculptor with the expertise to cast his own work.
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