Piazza dei Signori Site Features

The Torre dell'Orologio dominates the western end, its clock face a large gilded disc showing the hour, the moon's phase and the position of the sun in the zodiac. Famously it shows only eleven signs -- Libra is absent -- which has generated centuries of local legend about a slighted clockmaker, though the likeliest explanation is simply the way the 1428 rebuild divided the dial.

The tower stands in the middle of the Palazzo del Capitanio, the Venetian governor's residence, whose Renaissance arch was cut through the older Carraresi fabric in the 1530s.

Along the northern side runs the Loggia del Consiglio of 1523, an elegant Venetian-Renaissance arcade that was the council's own building and is the most refined piece of architecture on the square.

The astronomical clock

1344, rebuilt 1428. Shows hours, lunar phase and zodiac -- with Libra missing, which is the detail everyone remembers.

The Loggia del Consiglio

A 1523 Renaissance loggia along the north side, and the square's best building.

The evening

Café tables fill the open middle from about six. The square is at its most used, and most Paduan, after dark.

The square lies a minute west of Piazza dei Frutti, connected by a short arcaded passage, with the Duomo a further two minutes on. It is noticeably wider and flatter than the market squares, and the only central square in Padua with an unobstructed long view.