Piazza del Popolo and Piazza della Libertà

Faenza has the centre of an art city in miniature. Piazza del Popolo is a long rectangle enclosed by two twin palaces with double loggias: on one side the Palazzo del Podestà, medieval in origin, on the other the Palazzo del Municipio, which was the residence of the Manfredi, the lords of the city in the 14th and 15th centuries.

On the corner rises the Torre dell'Orologio, rebuilt after the retreating Germans blew it up in 1944. Next to it, in Piazza della Libertà, stands the monumental 17th-century fountain with bronze dragons and lions, and opposite is the unfinished brick façade of the cathedral.

Under the arcades you'll find cafés, pastry shops and ceramics shops: Faenza gave its name to faïence, and the ceramicists' workshops are everywhere in the centre. A stone's throw away is the MIC, the International Museum of Ceramics, one of the largest of its kind in the world.

The squares are the heart of the Palio del Niballo, the challenge between the city's five districts in June, with its historical procession in costume. In every season, the best way to experience them is with a coffee under the loggia.