Milan - Piazza dei Mercanti and Piazza Cordusio

From the Piazza della Scala the Via Santa Margherita runs southwest into the Piazza dei Mercanti, center of the old town of Milan. In the center of the square is the single-storey Palazzo della Ragione (1228-33), originally a law court, with an equestrian statue of the builder on the south side. The Palazzo dei Giureconsulti (1564), on the north side of the square, has a clock-tower dating from 1272. On the south side is the Gothic Loggia degli Osii (1316), a marble-fronted building from which judgements and proclamations were issued in the Middle Ages.