A key space in the city centre, Piazza Dante opens behind Sentierone’s quadriportico and houses on its sides the Palazzo della Procura and the Chamber of Commerce building.
In 1700, for a project by Giovan Battista Caniana, it housed the historic Sant'Alessandro fair with its 540 shops. In the 1920s it was redeveloped by Piacentini, who designed the entire complex of the Sentierone together with the other two central squares Vittorio Veneto and Matteotti. At its centre today stands a Zandobbio marble fountain depicting Neptune surrounded by tritons and sea horses.
Below Piazza Dante, which has undergone a very recent restoration, its underground counterpart develops. Not everyone knows that an air-raid shelter was built under the flooring which, at the end of the Second World War, was converted into a day hotel: about 1200 square metres of covered space with a large central dome, a social space where one took care of oneself. There you could find public toilets, a barber, a shoemaker, a bookshop, a bar and a large hall where they played billiards.
The day hotel has been closed for about forty years, from 1978 until today, when it was redeveloped together with the square. It will soon be re-inaugurated and will host entertainment activities, shows and venues that will deal with restauration, offering from breakfast to after dinner.
A key space in the city centre, Piazza Dante opens behind Sentierone’s quadriportico and houses on its sides the Palazzo della Procura and the Chamber of Commerce building.
In 1700, for a project by Giovan Battista Caniana, it housed the historic Sant'Alessandro fair with its 540 shops. In the 1920s it was redeveloped by Piacentini, who designed the entire complex of the Sentierone together with the other two central squares Vittorio Veneto and Matteotti. At its centre today stands a Zandobbio marble fountain depicting Neptune surrounded by tritons and sea horses.
Below Piazza Dante, which has undergone a very recent restoration, its underground counterpart develops. Not everyone knows that an air-raid shelter was built under the flooring which, at the end of the Second World War, was converted into a day hotel: about 1200 square metres of covered space with a large central dome, a social space where one took care of oneself. There you could find public toilets, a barber, a shoemaker, a bookshop, a bar and a large hall where they played billiards.
The day hotel has been closed for about forty years, from 1978 until today, when it was redeveloped together with the square. It will soon be re-inaugurated and will host entertainment activities, shows and venues that will deal with restauration, offering from breakfast to after dinner.
