A remarkable instance of architecture between the 15th and the 16th century and see of the Council.
At the corner of the street leading from piazza dei Signori to the Cathedral, in the past the most important convergence of the road system, the real heart of the city, rises the Loggia del Consiglio (Loggia of the Council), where the Maggior Consiglio of the city following the incendio of the Salone in 1420 used to meet.
The elegant Renaissance building of Lombard origins was designed by Annibale Maggi da Bassano, the last representative of the 15th-century style, in the rhythms and the decorations, which was dominant in Padua at the end of the 15th century. The building is popularly called Gran Guardia because it was used as a military command during the Austrian domination.
The Loggia, for the harmony of its proportions and its sober elegance, is the most classic and accomplished instance of the new Renaissance, a real masterpiece of the local architecture of the transition period between the 15th and the 16th century, characterized by decorated pedestals and the use of polychromatic marbles of clear Lombard taste.
At the corner of the road leading from the Piazza dei Signori to the Duomo, fin th past was an important center of the road system. The real heart of the city,is the Loggia del Consiglio because there was the placeof the Maggior Consiglio meeting after the fire the Palazzo della Ragione on 1420.