The Palazzo della Ragione (or Broletto Nuovo) was built in 1233. It had been Milan’s town hall until 1770 when a fair was then held under the portico. The name Broletta (town hall) originates from ‘Brolo’ which referred to a meadow in the Middle Ages and was where justice was carried out. After the war the building became the home of the Rinascente department store. There is a bas-relief on the façade as well as a sculpture which depicts the scrofa semilanuta (woolly sow).
