PALAZZO DELLA RAGIONE

Commercial and civil centre of Padua, the Palace of Justice, also called Il Salone, was built between 1218 and 1219. It is a huge building, which together with the Basilica of St. Anthony, has become the symbol of Padua. The original building was enlarged in 1306-09 by Frà Giovanni degli Eremitani, who raised the walls and added the two external loggias and covered the whole structure with a truly impressive lead inverted ship's keel roof. The interior was also altered and, once the pillars and walls that divided it into three large rooms were demolished, it became a kind of huge covered square, the largest hanging hall in Europe (m 80 x 27). As ancient documents report Giotto was commissioned to decorate the interior, but his frescoes were destroyed by fire in 1420 and replaced by those realized by Nicolò Miretto and Stefano da Ferrara and other masters. The cycle consists of 333 frescoes covering the four walls and it represents a rare example of medieval astrological cycle. The scenes were inspired by the famous man of letters and physician Pietro d'Abano. The frescoes can be divided into two sequences: the lower sequence is interrupted by windows and framed by an architectural motif of small painted arches. The upper level is divided into three rows one above the other. The frescoes in the three upper rows all contain the following sequence: an apostle, a month of the year, a sign of the zodiac, a planet and costellations around the sides. The lower section has no unified theme it depicts saints, bishops, doctors of the church, virtues and the arts. On the north-eastern corner of the Salone there is the "stone of shame" for insolvent debtors. On the opposite side there is a great wooden horse constructed in 1466 for a noble tournament. It seems to be a copy of the horse realized by Donatello for the equestrian statue of the Gattamelata which stands on Piazza del Santo in front of the Basilica of st.Anthony.