Piazza della Loggia, Brescia, Italy

Piazza della Loggia is fine example of Renaissance piazza. The construction of eponymous Palazzo della Loggia (current Town Hall) began in 1492 under the direction of Filippo de' Grassi and completed only in the 16th century by Sansovino and Palladio. Vanvitelli designed the upper room of the palace (1769).

On the south side of the square are two 15th–16th century Monti di Pietà (Christian lending houses). Their façades are embedded with ancient Roman tombstones, one of oldest antique lapidary displays in Italy. At the centre of the east side of the square stands a tower with a large astronomical clock (mid-16th-century) on top of which there are two copper anthropomorphic automata which strike the hours on a bell. On May 28, 1974, the square was targeted by the terrorist bombing.

References:

Wikipedia

Historic city squares, old towns and villages in Italy

User Reviews

Ayesha Nadeem (11 months ago)
It's looks so pretty especially at night

Muhammad Uzair (12 months ago)
It’s interesting place. There are a lot of pizzeria around. You can have a great view and good meal.

eleonora boglioni (12 months ago)
Nice New Year's vibe with music

Carl Wayland (2 years ago)
Beautiful square in the heart of Brescia, lovely to walk around in summer evenings with lots of great restaurants and bars in the square and around it. Romantic atmosphere and lovely Italian people.

Craig Alexander (2 years ago)
The Renaissance piazza of the city. Particularly notable for the Loggia itself (construction started in 1492) - seat of city government since the Venetian era - and a fascinating collection of Roman epigraphy deliberately incorporated into the southern side of the pizza. The Venetian style clock at the eastern end is also well worth a look, showing not only the time but also moon phase, astrological data etc.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Giåm

Historic Site of the week

Glimmingehus

Glimmingehus is the best preserved medieval stronghold in Scandinavia. It was built 1499-1506, during an era when Scania formed a vital part of Denmark, and contains many defensive arrangements of the era, such as parapets, false doors and dead-end corridors, 'murder-holes' for pouring boiling pitch over the attackers, moats, drawbridges and various other forms of death traps to surprise trespassers and protect the nobles against peasant uprisings. The lower part of the castle's stone walls are 2.4 meters (94 inches) thick and the upper part 1.8 meters (71 inches).

Construction was started in 1499 by the Danish knight Jens Holgersen Ulfstand and stone-cutter-mason and architect Adam van Düren, a North German master who also worked on Lund Cathedral. Construction was completed in 1506.

Ulfstand was a councillor, nobleman and admiral serving under John I of Denmark and many objects have been uncovered during archeological excavations that demonstrate the extravagant lifestyle of the knight's family at Glimmingehus up until Ulfstand's death in 1523. Some of the most expensive objects for sale in Europe during this period, such as Venetian glass, painted glass from the Rhine district and Spanish ceramics have been found here. Evidence of the family's wealth can also be seen inside the stone fortress, where everyday comforts for the knight's family included hot air channels in the walls and bench seats in the window recesses. Although considered comfortable for its period, it has also been argued that Glimmingehus was an expression of "Knighthood nostalgia" and not considered opulent or progressive enough even to the knight's contemporaries and especially not to later generations of the Scanian nobility. Glimmingehus is thought to have served as a residential castle for only a few generations before being transformed into a storage facility for grain.

An order from Charles XI to the administrators of the Swedish dominion of Scania in 1676 to demolish the castle, in order to ensure that it would not fall into the hands of the Danish king during the Scanian War, could not be executed. A first attempt, in which 20 Scanian farmers were ordered to assist, proved unsuccessful. An additional force of 130 men were sent to Glimmingehus to execute the order in a second attempt. However, before they could carry out the order, a Danish-Dutch naval division arrived in Ystad, and the Swedes had to abandon the demolition attempts. Throughout the 18th century the castle was used as deposit for agricultural produce and in 1924 it was donated to the Swedish state. Today it is administered by the Swedish National Heritage Board.

On site there is a museum, medieval kitchen, shop and restaurant and coffee house. During summer time there are several guided tours daily. In local folklore, the castle is described as haunted by multiple ghosts and the tradition of storytelling inspired by the castle is continued in the summer events at the castle called "Strange stories and terrifying tales".

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