Piazza del Duomo (Pannello B)

Piazza Duomo:

Cathedral Square is the hub of city life and home to a number of ancient buildings recorded as early as Roman times alongside Via Cassia, the city-centre thoroughfare that is now Via degli Orafi. From the early days of the communes considerable changes were made to the square, which gradually took on its present form as the various centres of civil and religious power established themselves here down the centuries. Piazza Duomo is indeed quite remarkable for the way it brings together the most representative buildings of the city's history and culture, with a clear distinction made between the two powers: on the one side the Cathedral with the Belltower, the old Bishop's Palace and Baptistery, on the other the City Hall and Palazzo Pretorio, now the Law Court building.
The square has always been a major place of trade and commerce. The market that is known to have been held in front of the Cathedral since the 10th century gradually spread into the area outside the City Hall, eventually filling the whole square. It is still held to this day.

Palazzo Pretorio or Palazzo del Podestá:

This austere 14th-century building was added to at various stages down the centuries. The most significant work was done in the early 1800s, when the second storey was added. Following the abolition of the podestá magistrature, the palace became the home of various courts of law. The façade has two rows of paired windows; in the courtyard (15th cent.), held up on two thick pillars, are the stone seats used by the magistrates (16th cent.) and the old table of justice. 16 Various armorial bearings of the podestá in stone, glazed terracotta, fresco and tempera (15th-19th cent.) can be seen on the façade and in the courtyard. The building is still used as the city's Law Courts.

Palazzo Bracciolini delle Api:

Built in the 17th century by Baron Bracciolini at the point where the cardo and decumanus of the Roman city intersected, this building faces onto Piazza del Duomo with an off-centre doorway topped by a balcony. Above the windows are the marble busts of four Medici Grand-Dukes, from the 17th-century Tuscan school, a reminder of the close relations this Pistoia family had with the powerful household.