Piazza Mercurio

Piazza Mercurio in Massa has served as a market square since the medieval period. Its central fountain and column crowned by Mercury preserve the story of the town's commercial life and Renaissance redesign.

Why it matters

Once called Piazza del Pozzo, the square lay at the foot of the castle and served the medieval settlement. During the refounding of Massa as Massa Nova under Alberico I Cybo-Malaspina, it became a civic centre dedicated to Mercury, the god of trade.

What to notice

The fountain began as a well transformed in 1556, with two spouts and a statue of Mercury. After an earthquake in 1770, the arrangement was rebuilt around a marble column, completed in 1771. Around the square stand palaces including Palazzo Colombini, now the civic library, and the Oratorio di San Giovanni Decollato, built in 1639, which preserves a work by Domenico Fiasella.

Context and history

The present layout dates to Massa's Renaissance urban programme. The Mercury fountain gave the square its central feature; after the earthquake, the statue was raised on a column. Excavations in 2012 uncovered Roman kilns for amphorae and building materials, evidence of earlier production on the site. The square remained a market and public gathering place through later centuries.