Market Square
This point of interest is available as audio on the tour: Visit Milan, Secrets and Treasures of the Lombard Capital
Back in the Middle Ages, this was the heart of the city. Piazza Mercanti was Milan’s commercial and governmental hub. Take a look around and listen to the stories these buildings could tell.
The big red-brick one is the Palazzo della Ragione, the Palace of Reason, home to the city’s court of justice since 1233. The handsome building with the large porticoes decorated with statues once housed the offices of judges and notaries. Weddings, for instance, were announced from its balconies.
Right next to it stood the Palatine School, the most prestigious in Milan at the time, where the city’s most prominent figures were educated. Facing the Palace of Reason is the Palazzo dei Giureconsulti, which belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and still plays host each year to Milan Fashion Week.
Quite a line-up for a single square, and even though it no longer holds the power it once did, it still tells an entire chapter of Milan’s history.
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