Piazza Antonio Casotti

For older residents of Reggio Emilia, Piazza Casotti is better known by another name: Piazza dei Ferri Vecchi, or, better still, its local dialect nickname, "Piaseta di Zavai". Until the mid-1980s, this corner of Reggio Emilia hosted a popular market where people bought and sold old tools, small antiques and everyday objects from the past. In many ways, it was the precursor of today's popular Sunday antiques markets.

Looking at it today, you wouldn't think so, but this square has a relatively recent history. It was created in the early 20th century following the demolition of several dilapidated buildings.
The city needed new municipal offices, and the municipal architect, Sorgato, came up with a brilliant idea: he designed a new building in 15th-century style, built alongside the Sala del Tricolore.
With its imposing portico and elegant mullioned windows, this is the building that gives the square the distinctive character we admire today.

A Chilling Curiosity

If we could travel back in time to the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, the atmosphere here would have been far less romantic. In fact, where the square stands today, there once stood the gloomy municipal prison.

All those who broke the city statutes ended up behind those bars.
The forced coexistence was bizarre: vicious murderers, thieves and swindlers shared cells with petty tax evaders who had failed to pay one of the countless levies of the time (yes, taxes were already a problem back then!).
The justice system of the time was no laughing matter.
Just think: right opposite the prisons, on what is now Via Arcipretura – where today we stroll amongst shops selling stationery and prints – lived a civil servant who was decidedly feared, yet respected in his own way: the executioner.

There was, however, one day each year when hope prevailed over the executioner.
On 24 November, the feast day of Saint Prospero, a prisoner sentenced to death was chosen by lot, taken to the Basilica and granted a pardon.
A true gift from the city to its patron saint!