The most appreciated feature of Piazza delle Erbe is the monuments, palaces, and patrician houses that embellish its perimeter like jewels on a crown. Palazzo del Comune, Casa dei Giudici, the houses of the Mazzanti family and Torre dei Lamberti on the north side, the beautiful Baroque-style Palazzo Maffei, flanked by the Gardello tower, featuring the first bell clock of the city, on the west side, Casa dei Mercanti on the south side, are just some of the most appreciated. The constructions facing the north-western side of the square, instead, have been built in more recent times over the area hosting the ancient Capitol and overlooking the Roman Forum.
What tourists love most of Piazza delle Erbe is, probably, the exterior look of some of the ancient houses that dot its perimeter. Some of the facades (i.e. the Mazzanti Houses) still retain the remains of fresco paintings that, with their bright colors and evocative designs, attract and please the eye of passers-by.
The most characteristic monuments in Piazza delle Erbe are the central fountain, topped by the statue of Madonna Verona, the 13th-century capital (also called “Tribuna”), and the two columns that stand, tall and fierce, one in front of Palazzo Maffei, surmounted by the lion of San Marco, and the other topped by a 14th-century aedicule that sports a set of niches carved in relief with the figures of the Virgin and Saints Zeno, Pietro Martire and Cristoforo.
