Piazza della Loggia (The Loggia Square)

THE SQUARE

Created at the height of the Renaissance, with the first works started at the end of the 15th century, the square immediately became the nerve centre of the city, thanks also to the Loggia, completed in 1574, the seat of city politics. But Piazza della Loggia is also a place of memory: on 28 May 1974 it was hit by a terrorist attack that left a deep scar in the collective conscience. Today that pain has become living memory, carved in marble and in hearts. In this space so full of beauty and meaning, Brescia remembers, resists and looks ahead.
All around are 16th-century Venetian-style palazzi, turning the square into an open-air theatre. On the east side are the Renaissance arcades, surmounted by the Clock Tower, a real gem from 1546. The clock is decorated with four gilded copper angels, representing the winds. But the real protagonists are the “màcc de le ùre”, (the madmen of the hours), two bronze statues that strike the hours with hammers: a beloved and familiar symbol, etched in the collective imagination of Brescia.

On the south side of the square is the old Monte di Pietà, built between 1484 and 1489. The building combines different eras and styles: a Venetian loggia with two arches below, a façade with Roman inscriptions carved in reused archaeological materials, an upper loggia with seven arches and a balcony, possibly once used for public sermons. 

In the north-eastern part of the square is the monument to Bella Italia, sculpted by Giovanni Battista Lombardi in 1864. The statue replaces the old Venetian column with the lion of St. Mark, which was toppled in 1797 by revolutionaries. The statue depicts a proud, female figure who represents national identity and freedom. 

Piazza della Loggia is the gravitational centre of Brescia: historic, bustling, spectacular.