Piazza Castello Site Features

The square is long and narrow rather than formal, arcaded down both sides, running between the Rocca at one end and the Torre dell'Orologio at the other.

The arcades are continuous, on brick piers and columns, and are the reason the square works as a social space in a climate with hot summers and wet winters.

Above them the buildings are three and four storeys of plastered brick, painted in the ochres and creams of the Veneto plain, with plain rectangular windows and the occasional Gothic survival.

The Torre dell'Orologio closes one end and the bell tower stands nearby -- the two medieval towers that frame the centre.

There is no unified architectural scheme. The square accumulated, and reads as a series of individual buildings sharing an arcade line.

The arcades

Continuous shelter down both sides, where the town's social life happens in the evening.

The weekly market

The best time to see the square doing its actual job.

The two towers

The clock tower closing one end and the separate bell tower nearby -- both medieval, and the framing of the centre.

The Rocca at the end

The square runs straight to the moated fortress, so the two are experienced together.