Piazza Grande, Medieval square in Modena, Italy

Piazza Grande lies on the south side of Modena's Cathedral, with the Ghirlandina bell tower rising beside it. The east side is closed by the 17th-century Palazzo Comunale, an L-shaped arcaded building; the west by the rear of the Archbishop's Palace; the south by Gio Ponti's modern bank building, also porticoed. In the north-east corner stands the Preda Ringadora, a rectangular marble block over three metres long.

The square formed gradually as the buildings around it were built and altered over the centuries. A document of 1046 was drawn up in the town hall, and in 1099 work began on the new cathedral, by then flanked by the archbishop's palace to the west and the town hall to the east. In 1216 the new town hall was built, and in 1268 the statue of the Bonissima was placed on the square.

The square hosts the city's celebrations, carnival processions and the start and finish of races. In the Palazzo Comunale niche stands the 12th-century statue called Bonissima, said to depict a noblewoman named Bona known for generosity to the poor, or perhaps Matilda of Canossa. Modena people say of someone who meddles in everything that they are "like the Bonissima", the statue that overlooks the square and hears every conversation.

The square is entered on foot from the surrounding streets of the historic centre; the arcades of the Palazzo Comunale on the east side and the porticoed bank building on the south give shelter along the edges. The Preda Ringadora stands in the north-east corner beside the town hall. The paving is flat, and the cathedral, the Ghirlandina tower and the town hall all face the open space, so the main monuments can be seen from one spot.

In the north-east corner, beside the Palazzo Comunale, lies the Preda Ringadora, a rectangular marble block over three metres long, probably from a Roman building. Its name means "stone of the harangue" in Modena dialect: medieval orators spoke from it, death sentences were carried out there, and insolvent debtors had to declare themselves on it, bare-bottomed and greased with turpentine, three Saturdays running.