Tue, 23/10/2012 - 12:11 -- Chiara Itinerario:  The great squares of the city centre Renaissance and Sixteenth-century Brescia Slow tour 3 Tipologia:  Monumental buildings Tag:  old nonte di pietà new monte di pietà Pier Maria Bagnadore lapidarium The south side of the square is occupied by the buildings of the old Monte di Pietà (1484 - 1489) and the new Monte di Pietà (1596 - 1600). The former was designed by Filippo de' Grassi, and takes its name from the institution that occupied it from 1490 onwards, the latter was designed by Pier Maria Bagnadore. The old Monte di Pietà has an elegant, small Venetian-style loggia in the centre, with seven little arches supported on small columns, a parapet decorated with coats of arms and above, a series of panels with plant volutes with a highrelief representing Justice in the centre. Large pilaster strips frame the loggia and the portico beneath The oldest part of the south side of the square is particularly interesting as it is considered the oldest museum of inscribed stone tablets in Italy. In fact in 1480, in the middle of the  Enlightenment, the town council decided to set into the walls of the building Roman tablets and stones found during excavations in the city., as a decoration of public interest.   THE OLD AND THE NEW MONTE DI PIETÀ Piazza Loggia Brescia File:  Audioguide Old Monte di pieta.mp3 Audioguide New Monte di pieta.mp3 ItalianoDeutschFrançaisEspañol