Broletto

The Broletto is a sturdy, two-storey palazzo, its pitched roof a familiar sight in Italian medieval town squares. The ground floor is an open loggia, its pointed arches, a touch of the Gothic, resting on octagonal stone columns. The capitals are carved with varied motifs: stylised acanthus leaves, shields. Inside, the cross-vaulted ceiling mirrors the one outside, while the stone slab floor is a solid, unpretentious foundation. The upper floor is a palimpsest of later interventions, though the original wooden coffered ceilings survive. The facade facing the main square is the most legible. The ground-floor arcade is framed in brick, with a semicircular string course marking the division between floors. Above this, six small semicircular niches hold terracotta busts; two more appear on the side elevations. The large rectangular first-floor windows are set within the outlines of earlier pointed arches, their brick frames still visible. It is a building that wears its centuries of use plainly, without fuss.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.