Piazza della Mercanzia

Piazza della Mercanzia, in Bologna

Piazza della Mercanzia is dominated by the elegant Palace of the Merchandise, a Gothic jewel of Bologna. The Bologna audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this building of brick and stone, the former tribunal of trade of the merchant town.

The Gothic palace of the merchants' tribunal

On this square stands the flamboyant Palazzo della Mercanzia, the Palace of the Merchandise. Built in 1391, it is made of brick and pietra d'Istria, a limestone rock that strongly resembles marble, in an elegant Gothic style. Its fine adorned façade, with its loggia, its balcony and its pinnacles, makes it one of the finest civil buildings of Bologna. The palace was the seat of the tribunal of the merchandise, the institution that settled the commercial disputes and watched over the trade of the town, at a time when Bologna was a prosperous and merchant town, animated by its guilds and its exchanges. A witness of the economic power and the commercial life of medieval Bologna, it today shelters institutions linked to trade. The Palazzo della Mercanzia is a jewel of the Gothic architecture of Bologna.

What to see

You admire the flamboyant Palazzo della Mercanzia, built in 1391 in brick and pietra d'Istria close to marble, in an elegant Gothic style, with its loggia, its balcony and its pinnacles, the former seat of the merchants' tribunal of prosperous and merchant Bologna. Piazza della Mercanzia is dominated by this Gothic jewel of Bologna. It is a must-see stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

Piazza della Mercanzia lies in the heart of Bologna, near the Two Towers, reachable on foot. You admire the palace from the square; it is a building whose access follows its own uses. You discover it during a walk in the centre.

What was the Palazzo della Mercanzia in Bologna?

The seat of the tribunal of the merchandise, the institution that settled the commercial disputes and watched over the trade of the town; built in 1391 in brick and pietra d'Istria, it is a jewel of the civil Gothic architecture of Bologna.

Where is Piazza della Mercanzia?

In the heart of Bologna, near the Two Towers, in Italy.