Description
Piazza delle Erbe, more simply called Piazza Erbe, is the market square in the heart of Mantua: a long space lined with arcades, towers and medieval palaces, where in a few steps you go from a Romanesque church to a Renaissance tower.
Along the eastern side stretches the Palazzo della Ragione, with its 15th-century arcade, and next to it rises Luca Fancelli's Torre dell'Orologio, with the great astronomical clock that shows the hours, the signs of the zodiac and the phases of the moon.
Next to the tower, below the level of the square, is the Rotonda di San Lorenzo, the small circular 11th-century church that, according to tradition, Matilda of Tuscany built in memory of the Holy Sepulchre.
Along the square runs the row of merchants' houses, embellished with late Gothic and Renaissance arcades. The finest is the Casa del Mercante, built in 1455 for Giovan Boniforte da Concorezzo: its windows are embroidered with terracotta, in a style reminiscent of Venice. Above it soars the 14th-century Torre del Salaro.
At the far end, the square is closed by the Palazzo del Podestà, also known as the Broletto, which separates it from the neighbouring Piazza Broletto.
The square was born at the end of the 12th century, when the commune began to grow beyond the old Roman town, gathered around today's Piazza Sordello. On this open, unpaved ground beside the monastery of Sant'Andrea, the cattle market was held.
Once the cattle were moved to the outskirts, the space became the administrative heart of the commune. Under the Bonacolsi and then the Gonzagas, power shifted to the new Piazza San Pietro, today's Piazza Sordello, but Piazza Erbe remained the square of trade.
Its Renaissance look was given by Luca Fancelli, the architect building the Basilica of Sant'Andrea to Leon Battista Alberti's design: he remodelled the Palazzo del Podestà, rebuilt the arcades of the Ragione and designed the tower. For the clock he called in Bartolomeo Manfredi, an expert in astrology.
Along the eastern side stretches the Palazzo della Ragione, with its 15th-century arcade, and next to it rises Luca Fancelli's Torre dell'Orologio, with the great astronomical clock that shows the hours, the signs of the zodiac and the phases of the moon.
Next to the tower, below the level of the square, is the Rotonda di San Lorenzo, the small circular 11th-century church that, according to tradition, Matilda of Tuscany built in memory of the Holy Sepulchre.
Along the square runs the row of merchants' houses, embellished with late Gothic and Renaissance arcades. The finest is the Casa del Mercante, built in 1455 for Giovan Boniforte da Concorezzo: its windows are embroidered with terracotta, in a style reminiscent of Venice. Above it soars the 14th-century Torre del Salaro.
At the far end, the square is closed by the Palazzo del Podestà, also known as the Broletto, which separates it from the neighbouring Piazza Broletto.
The square was born at the end of the 12th century, when the commune began to grow beyond the old Roman town, gathered around today's Piazza Sordello. On this open, unpaved ground beside the monastery of Sant'Andrea, the cattle market was held.
Once the cattle were moved to the outskirts, the space became the administrative heart of the commune. Under the Bonacolsi and then the Gonzagas, power shifted to the new Piazza San Pietro, today's Piazza Sordello, but Piazza Erbe remained the square of trade.
Its Renaissance look was given by Luca Fancelli, the architect building the Basilica of Sant'Andrea to Leon Battista Alberti's design: he remodelled the Palazzo del Podestà, rebuilt the arcades of the Ragione and designed the tower. For the clock he called in Bartolomeo Manfredi, an expert in astrology.