Palace of the Podesta
Palazzo del Podestà, or Palazzo del Broletto, was designed in 1227 to house the city’s highest office. Afterwards it has often maintained its function as an administrative center. For a certain period it was also the seat of the administration of justice, and also a prison. Numerous fires have forced to remakes and renovations. We can notice two styles that identify as many constructive moments: the first simple but rough, the second humanistic-renaissance. The side facing Piazza Broletto hosts a niche with the statue of Virgil in Cattedra. The right side of the tower is occupied by a civic tower that had the function of a prison. At the base of the tower there is the Portico dei Lattai.
