Market Square (Piazza del Mercato) Tours

Piazza del Mercato has a long history from its beginnings as a marketplace, possibly as far back as Roman times. Later, eastern traders gathered here giving it the name Moors' Marketplace. Then a more gruesome era began with its use as the place for public executions. The first was in the thirteenth century - Corradino, the unfortunate 16-year old new monarch in an unpopular royal Svevian dynasty. The square has also seen revolutionary uprisings including those of 1647 and 1799. The latter led to the State's public execution here of 200 dissidents. The piazza also has the unfortunate honor of being the starting point of the plague of 1656.

These days life is much calmer in the square. It is a marketplace for fabric, toys and tools. It was severely damaged by bombing in WWII and many of the old buildings have been replaced by less-elegant concrete monsters.