Piazza del Popolo is Ravenna's main square, born at the end of the 13th century when the Da Polenta family took control of the city.
What to see
The city's political centre formed around the residence of Bernardino da Polenta, built on the remains of an older building along the Padenna river; in the second half of the 14th century the palace of the Rector of Romagna was also built there. Having conquered Ravenna, in 1444 the Venetians moved the seat of the Commune into a new building, the so-called palazzetto veneziano, whose arcades rest on granite columns with 6th-century capitals salvaged from the demolished church of Sant'Andrea dei Goti; in 1483 they had the square paved and erected the two granite columns still standing today, then topped by the Lion of Saint Mark, later torn down by the citizens of Ravenna in the 1530s after the end of Venetian rule in 1509, and by the statue of Saint Apollinaris.
In 1681 the Da Polenta palace was demolished and replaced by the present town hall, of which only the columns, the entrance staircase and a frescoed archway survive from the earlier building; the facade took its current form in 1857, with the addition of the Ghibelline battlements that earned the building the popular nickname «Palazzo Merlato» (Battlemented Palace). In 1785 the architect Camillo Morigia built the Neoclassical Torre dell'Orologio building, linked to the prefecture building by an arched passage offering a glimpse of Dante's tomb, also designed by Morigia; in 1921 Adolfo De Carolis frescoed the facade of the palazzetto veneziano. Since June 1969, the first square in the city to be pedestrianised, it has been closed to vehicle traffic.
Visiting
The square, entirely pedestrian, is always accessible and is the heart of Ravenna's city life.
Our editors' tip
Look at the two granite columns for signs of how the statue on top has changed over the centuries: the Lion of Saint Mark, torn down and left replaced by empty space for a century, tells, better than many words, the political upheavals this square has been through.
