Construction of the Palazzo della Ragione began in 1172 and was completed in 1219. The article names no architect. The ground plan is a parallelogram of 267 by 89 feet (81.5 by 27 m), and the building is 79 feet (24 m) high. It stands on arches, with an open loggia on the upper story. Fra Giovanni, an Augustinian friar, covered it with a single roof in 1306.
The upper floor housed town and justice administration, and the ground floor is a covered market that the text says has operated for 800 years. A fire in 1420 led to the removal of internal partitions. Nicolò Miretto and Stefano da Ferrara refrescoed it from 1425 to 1440, with more than 300 scenes. A tornado destroyed the roof on August 17, 1756.
It is part of a UNESCO site inscribed in 2021.
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