Reggio Emilia: squares to discover

• Piazza della Vittoria and Piazza Martiri del 7 luglio: The city's largest square, recently restored. Together with the adjacent Piazza Martiri del 7 Luglio (Martyrs of July 7), it forms a single large space for city encounters and exchanges overlooked by some of the most important buildings, monuments and museums in the city of Reggio Emilia: the Valli Municipal Theater and the Ariosto Theater, the Museum Palace and the Parmeggiani Gallery, the Resistance Monument and the one dedicated to the Fallen of World War I, as well as People's Park, a historic park in the heart of the city center that runs along the northern side of the square.

• Piazza del Monte: Piazza Cesare Battisti is commonly known as "Piazza del Monte," from the most prestigious building that faces it, the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, whose primitive nucleus dates back to 1188 and where, until the early decades of the 15th century, the city's ancient municipality had its seat. On the north side is Palazzo Bussetti (1657), which tradition wanted to be designed by Bernini (actually more likely referable to the ducal architect Bartolomeo Avanzini, of Roman origin). On the east side, on the other hand, one can admire the ancient Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, now Albergo Posta, which dates back to 1280. Its present appearance is the result of "interpretive" restorations in the 1920s of our century, based on traces of the primitive thirteenth-century elevation that had been completely obliterated by the numerous renovations that followed over the centuries.

• Piazza Prampolini: The main square is overlooked by some of the city's main monuments: the Baptistery, the Bishop's Palace, the Cathedral, the Canons' Palace and the Town Hall. The hall now named after the Tricolor, inside the Town Hall, was designed in 1774 by architect Ludovico Bolognini to house the archives of the Estense Duchy. Adjacent to the Hall is the Tricolor Museum where you can discover the history of the Italian flag. On one side of the square is a statue depicting the Crostolo, from the Villa Ducale in Rivalta, where it was already present in 1754.

• Piazza San Prospero: This square is also known as "Piasa ceca," meaning "Little Square." The portico was built in 1488 when the passage under the loggia was opened to the public. At the end of the Broletto is the striking view of the Basilica of San Prospero, dedicated to the city's patron saint, characterized by the imposing octagonal bell tower whose design, later made by Alberto, Roberto and Bernardino Pacchioni, was submitted to Giulio Romano for approval in 1538.

• Piazza Fontanesi: Piazza Fontanesi is vast and tree-lined, overlooked by numerous antique stores; here in ancient times the presence of the Guazzatoio Canal allowed for the presence of activities for silk processing, leather tanning, and the manufacture of tallow candles. The street of the same name, Via del Guazzatoio, leads up to the "bastion" (the only evidence of the city's 13th-century walls) now incorporated into Casa Lasagni. The square underwent a renovation project in the 1980s that aimed to highlight-through the identification of different areas of the plateau-the pre-existing historical.