Shoe Market Square has always been a vital crossroads: roads from the east (Venice) and the south (Milan) converged there, and from it begins the main axis of Città Alta, which in 1887 was connected by funicular to the main axis of the flat city.

The most prominent building is the upper funicular station, adapted into a fourteenth-century building that once belonged to the shoemakers' consortium; the five arches on the square level, with the sense of depth created by the dark window frames, echo the shadow of the portico opposite; on the first floor a balcony, supported by three brackets, has a tiny entrance door; on the three floors, the series of windows does not follow any alignment. Below the central window is a fresco, with the Suardi family coat of arms.