Inaugurated in 1433 and dominated by the magnificent Renaissance Palace of the Loggia, nowadays the town hall, it is undoubtedly the most beautiful square in Brescia. The building of the Palace, which is adorned with splendid decorative sculptures in classical style, began in 1492. The upper part, designed by Jacopo Sansovino and Andrea Palladio, was completed in 1570.
The south side of the square is occupied by the Monti di Pieta` (The Pawnbrokers): the Old Monte di Pieta` is linked to the New Monte di Pieta`, towards the east, by means of an arcade. The XVth- and XVIth-century façades are set with inscribed Roman stonework, thus forming a remarkable "Lapidarium-museum". The Monti di Pieta` are joined to the building that was formerly a prison by an elegant Venetian-style loggia.
The arcade extending along the east side of the square is surmounted by a building that incorporates the sixteenth-century mechanical Clock Tower, where two human figures strike the hour on a bell. A full twenty-four-hour day has been marked on the clock face. A memorial has been erected next to the fountain situated below the clock tower, to commemorate the victims of the bomb which exploded on 28 May 1974, during a trade union demonstration.
Recently an old tradition has been revived and Piazza della Loggia is now used as a market-place on Saturdays.
Not far away, at the end of Via San Faustino, a Benedictine monastery, next to the Church of San Faustino, is worthy of note because of its XV1th century cloisters. Today it houses the University Faculty of Economics and Business Studies (Universita` degli Studi di Brescia).