Such, too, Livorno, built by the Medici in the sixteenth century.

Such, too, the many little military colonies of the Italian Republics, dotted over parts of northern and middle Italy.

Often it is easy to prove that, despite their chess-board plans, these towns do not stand on Roman sites.
Often the inquiry leads into regions remote from the study of ancient history.
Fortunately, enough examples can be identified as Roman to serve our purpose.

Some of these occur in the Lombardy plain where, both under the Republic and at the outset of the Empire, many 'coloniae' were planted full-grown and where town-life on the Roman model was otherwise developed.

Not all these towns survive to-day; not all of the survivors retain clear traces of their Roman town-plan; in nine cases, at least, the streets seem unmistakably to follow Roman lines.
Four of the nine date from early days; in the late third and the early second centuries (218-183 B.C.), Piacenza, Bologna, Parma, and Modena, were built as new towns with the rank of 'colonia'.