Welcome to Piazza dei Leoni , one of the most famous and evocative spaces in the old city. The square is framed by the apses of the Cathedral, the medieval houses of the Costa family, the tower, and the Costa Palace, later Palazzo del Carretto di Balestrino, now the bishop's residence.
The medieval houses along the north side display a variety of building styles from the 14th and 15th centuries. The tower, unique in the city with a base made of large Finale stone ashlars, features a brick top decorated with hanging arches and Ghibelline battlements, a clear reference to the Cathedral's bell tower. Next to it, a loggia with pointed arches, now filled in, completed the ensemble.
In the Middle Ages, Piazza dei Leoni was the beating heart of commerce: the shoemakers' and tanners' market, known as forum callegariorum , took place here, alongside wine shops and the fig market.
In the 16th century, Palazzo Costa was built, the city's first 16th-century palace, with a wide staircase and two main floors. In the atrium, there is a plaque commemorating the reconstruction of the city by General Flavius Constantius, dated around 417 AD. The main hall, decorated by the local painter Bernardo Reubado, once housed a collection of paintings, now dispersed.
The square owes its name to the three stone lions, placed in 1608 to guard the palace, shipped especially from Rome by Ottavio Costa and placed there by his brother, the abbot Alessandro.
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