Ragione Palace in Padua

You're standing at the Palazzo della Ragione, right in the heart of Padua. This huge medieval building sits between two market squares: Piazza delle Erbe on one side, Piazza dei Frutti on the other. Locals simply call it il Salone, the big hall. Look at the bottom first. The whole building stands on arches, and underneath them the city's covered market has been trading for about eight hundred years. It's probably the oldest market hall in the European Union. Once you could buy food, clothes, spices and jewels here. Today it's mostly food and drink.