Italy · 13th century
The Palazzo della Ragione ("Palace of Reason") is a historic building in Milan, Italy, located in Piazza Mercanti, facing the Loggia degli Osii. Built in the 13th century, it originally served as a broletto—an administrative and judicial building. As the second broletto constructed in Milan, it is also known as the Broletto Nuovo ("New Broletto").
The palace features a relief of Oldrado da Tresseno, the podestà of Milan known for his harsh prosecution of Cathar heretics. Another notable element is the bas-relief of the scrofa semilanuta ("half-woolly sow"), which has been the subject of much scholarly debate concerning the foundation and early symbolism of Milan.
Text adapted from “Palazzo della Ragione, Milan” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Palazzo della Ragione (Milan) ranks #2,247 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #171 of the 560 mapped in Italy. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,632 times in the last 60 days, more than 64% of the atlas. 18 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Milan, 1 km away. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.
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