Piazza dei Signori Historical Timeline

Origins

The square occupies the site of the Roman forum, and has been the seat of Vicenza's government continuously since the middle ages. The medieval Palazzo della Ragione, the communal town hall, stood here long before Palladio touched it.

Turning points

By the 1490s the old hall's outer loggia was collapsing. Decades of failed proposals followed until Palladio's design won the commission in 1549 -- his first major public work, and the one that made his reputation.

Influential people

Palladio returned to the square at the end of his career with the Palazzo del Capitaniato of 1565-1572, built for the Venetian governor. It is a very different, much heavier building, and only three bays of the intended facade were ever finished.

Cultural evolution

Under Venetian rule from 1404 the two columns went up as a statement of allegiance, carrying the winged lion of St Mark and, later, Christ the Redeemer -- the same pairing as Venice's own Piazzetta, deliberately.

Present-day significance

Allied bombing in March 1945 set the Basilica's roof alight and destroyed much of the square's fabric. The reconstruction was meticulous, and the square is now the centre of Vicenza's civic life and the heart of its UNESCO inscription.