Piazza dei Signori

Piazza dei Signori is Vicenza's main square and the stage for its most famous building. The Basilica Palladiana fills one long side with the white marble loggia Andrea Palladio wrapped around the medieval town hall from 1549; facing it stand the Palazzo del Capitaniato, one of his last works, and two tall columns carrying the lion of Venice and the Redeemer.

This is a working civic square, not a monument precinct -- the buildings house municipal offices and the market serves residents. Visiting on market days means sharing it with the people it is actually for, which is the point.

Paying to go up into the Basilica's loggia funds the maintenance of a building that was rebuilt once already after 1945.

Open public square, free and always accessible. The Basilica's upper loggia and exhibition hall are ticketed separately and keep museum hours; walking the loggia at first-floor level, out over the square, costs little and is the best view in Vicenza.

The square sits mid-way along Corso Andrea Palladio, a ten-minute walk from the railway station. Cafés line the arcades on the shorter sides.

Early morning and late evening are best, when the low sun rakes across the loggia and the marble goes from white to gold. The square is floodlit after dark and is arguably better then than by day.

A market fills it on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, which is worth catching for the life of it but does hide the architecture.