Once home to the city's highest official and adorned with a coat of arms, the Palazzo del Podestà is located in Piazza Broletto. The square also features a white stone shrine dedicated to Virgil, depicting the poet sitting at his desk. The brick arch to the left, the Arengario , bears evidence of more medieval Mantuan punishments. Prisoners were suspended from the iron rings in the ceiling and the ropes pulled taught, a torture known as squassi di corda .
