Piazza dei Frutti Historical Timeline

Origins

The square took its present shape in the early 13th century, when the Palazzo della Ragione was built across the middle of what had been a single open trading area, leaving fruit sellers on this side and greengrocers on the other.

Turning points

The division stuck. Eight centuries later the two squares still specialise, still trade every morning except Sunday, and are still known by what they sell rather than by any official name.

Cultural evolution

A stone column known as the Peronio has stood in the square since the 16th century, once used for public announcements and punishments -- market squares in Italian communes routinely doubled as places of civic humiliation.

Present-day significance

It remains a working market and, in the evening, an overflow of the student drinking that fills Piazza delle Erbe next door. It has the same rhythm as its twin, half an hour behind it.