As the name suggests, Piazza Mercantile (merchant’s square) was the center of trade and business of the city, before it became one of the most important tourist attractions in Bari.
Its past is narrated by the Palazzo del Sedile (palace of the Chair), the building that, as hinted by its name, hosted the Consiglio dei Nobili e dei Primari (congress of nobles and leaders) in the past, and is a private residence today.
On one side of the piazza, next to the statue of a lion bearing a sign on its chest saying “custodian of justice”, there is the much-feared Column of Justice to which debtors were tied to and left exposed to the insults of the townspeople.
Needless to explain why the locals nicknamed it The Column of the Infamous.
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