Modena piazza grande · Piazza Grande in Modena
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Piazza Grande in Modena
Piazza Grande in Modena
The Piazza with its paving made of cobblestones and its Ghirlandina tower, delimited to the north and east by the Cathedral and the Town Hall, was recognised by UNESCO as heritage of mankind.
It is the centre of life of the city. A weekly Saturday market used to take place here and on those occasions it was a colourful meeting place. In 1931 the market was moved, but the piazza has remained the centre of tradition: it is a festive and crowded place on Saint’s day (31 January) in honour of the local patron saint, San Geminiano, and on Thursday before Lent. On these occasions the piazza can be seen in its time-honoured bustle of stalls, umbrellas and people.
The piazza also had a strong civil calling: testimony of this is the preda ringadora, in the north-eastern corner in front of the monumental staircase of the town hall. The name means that this was the corner from which to "harangue to crowds", the pulpit for speeches. In front, in the apse of the cathedral, the pole, tile, brick and fathom units of measure are engraved, which assured honest trading in the piazza. This bears witness to the fact that the piazza was a place of great economic importance and the heart of the city.
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Modena Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.