Palazzo della Ragione Site Features

The astrological cycle

Around 333 painted panels covering the hall's walls, arranged as a scheme of months, zodiac signs, planets, trades and saints. Painted in the 1420s and 30s to replace Giotto's lost original, and best read slowly, one register at a time.

The wooden horse

An outsized wooden horse of 1466 stands at one end of the hall, built for a tournament and modelled on Donatello's Gattamelata outside the Basilica of Saint Anthony. It is startling at close range and hard to photograph well.

The roof from inside

Standing in the middle of the hall and looking up is the point of the visit -- the absence of columns is more impressive from beneath than any description of the span makes it sound.

Sotto il Salone

The market arcade below, still trading, and free to walk through. The contrast between the silent hall above and the noise underneath is the building's real character.