Chapter XVI. Of the Piazze, and of the edifices that are made round them

BESIDES the streets, of which mention has been made above, it is necessary that in cities, according to their bigness, there should be more or fewer piazze comparted, in which people assemble to contract for things useful and necessary for their wants: and as they are applied to different uses, so a proper and convenient place ought to be given to each. Those ample places are left in cities, besides the said conveniency, that there the people assemble to walk, to discourse, and bargain in; they afford allo a great ornament, when at the head of a street, a beautiful and spacious place is found, from which the prospect of some beautiful fabrick is seen, and especially of some temple. But as it is prolp! > Pp y p of advantage, that there be many piazze dispersed through the city, so it is much more necessary, magnificent, and honourable, that there be one principal, which truly may be y g principal, y may called publick. These principal piazze ought to be made of such bigness, as the multitude of the citizens shall require, that it may not be small for their conveniency and use, or that, through the small number of people, they may not seem uninhabited. In sea-port towns they must be made near the port; and in inland cities they must be made in the middle of them, that they may be convenient for every part of the city.

Portico’s, such the antients used, ought to be made round the piazze, as broad as their columns are high; the use of which is to avoid the rain, snow, and every injury of the air and sun. But all the edifices that are made round a piazza, ought not to be (according to Alberti) higher than the third part of the breadth of the piazza, nor lower than the sixth, And to the portico’s one is to ascend by steps, which must be made as high as the fifth part of the length of the columns,

ARCHES give a very great ornament to piazze that are made at the head of the streets, that is, in the entrance into the piazza; which, how they are to be made, and why they were antiently made, and from whence they were called triumphal, shall be laid down at large, in my book of arches, and the designs of many shall be inserted. Hence great light will be given to those, that may be willing in our times, or hereafter, to ere¢t arches to princes, to kings, and to emperors.

But, returning to the principal piazza, the palace of the prince, or of the signory (as it happens either to be a principality or a republic) ought to be joined thereto, so ought the mint the publick treasury, and the prisons.

These last were antiently made of three sorts; the one for those that were debauched and leud, who were kept there in order to their reformation, which now are ordinarily assigned to mad-folks; the second fort was for debtors, and this is still in use among us; the third is where the malefactors, either already condemned, or such as are to be tried, are kept: which three sorts are sufficient, since the errors of men proceed either from immodesty, or from contempt, or from wickedness.

The mint, and the prisons ought to be placed in ‘very secure places, and be very ready at hand, encompassed with high walls, and well guarded against the violence and the treachery of the seditious citizens. The prisons may be made healthy and commodious, because they have been instituted for the safe-keeping and not for the torment and pain of criminails, or of other men; therefore their walls in the middle must be made of very large live stones, bound together with cramps, and with nails of iron or metal, and then coated on both sides with bricks: because, in so doing, the humidity of the live stones will not make them unhealthy, neither will they want for security, Passages must also be made round them; and the rooms for the keepers near, that they may easily hear if the prisoners should contrive any thing.

Besides the treasury and the prisons, the curia shou'd be joined to the piazza, which is the place where the senate meets to consult on affairs of state. This must be made of such bigness, as the dignity and number of the citizens (shall seem to require; and if it square, whatever it shall be in breadth, adding one half more, that shall be its height. But its form shall be longer than broad, the length and breadth must be added together, and the half of the whole sum shall be taken for the height to the roof. In the middle of the height, large cornice ought to be made round the walls, which must project forward, that the voice of those who dispute, may not loft in the height of the curia, but reflected back, the better to come to the ears of the auditors.

On the part facing the warmest region of the heaven, on one side of the piazza, the basilica must be made, that is, the place where justice is administered, whither great part of the people and men of business resort; of which I shall make particular mention, after I have shewn how the Greeks and Latins made their piazze, and have given the designs of them,