The square stands on the site of the ancient linen market: linen was widely grown in the countryside around Pavia and used for making household goods. In the Middle Ages the square faced the Palazzo delle Corporazioni di Arti e Mestieri (the offices of the guilds) and for this reason, at the end of the nineteenth century the city attempted to reintroduce commerce and commercial negotiations in this district thanks to the generosity of the Count Arnaboldi, who built a small gallery with a futuristic iron and glass dome destined to be a covered market. 
In the centre of the square stands the monument to the Cairoli family, protagonists of the Italian Risorgimento. The family group, made in bronze by the sculptor Enrico Cassi, depicts Adelaide Cairoli in the act of delivering the national flag to his five children, four of whom died in defending the ideals of Independence.