Piazza Vecchia

A Renaissance square which was built in 1453 after the medieval shops and houses in the area were demolished. The palazzo della Ragione, the first municipal building, and the Torre Comunale (the municipal tower), known as the “campanone” (bell tower), overlook this square. In the centre is the beautiful fontana (fountain), built in 1780 as a gift from the podestà Alvise II Contarini; on the north-west side of the square is the Venetian palazzo del Podestà (Podestà palace), previously the Suardi palace (1340), restored in the fifteenth century.
On the right, the north-east side of the square is the Palazzo nuovo, the current public library.