Piazza del Popolo

From 1441 to 1509 Ravenna belonged to the Republic of Venice, and the Venetians wanted a square worthy of their rule. They redesigned it at the end of the 15th century, with two tall granite columns on the side facing the palace, just like in Piazza San Marco.

Above the columns stood the lion of St Mark and a saint; when the Venetians left, the lion was removed, and today the columns bear the statues of the two patron saints, Sant'Apollinare and San Vitale. The Palazzo Comunale with its arcades closes the main side.

Next to it stands the so-called Palazzetto Veneziano: look at the columns of its arcade, some have ancient capitals with Theodoric's monogram, reused by the builders. In Ravenna, history is recycled even in the details.

It's the city's living room: open-air cafés, the covered market a stone's throw away, and from here you can walk to San Francesco, Dante's Tomb and Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in five minutes.