Piazza Bra is the largest square in Verona, overlooked by the famous Arena and a number of historic buildings, including Palazzo della Gran Guardia and Palazzo Barbieri. The latter is an imposing neoclassical building (built between 1836 and 1848) inspired by the forms of the ancient Roman temples: today it is the seat of the municipal administration.
On the north-west side of the square there is the characteristic
“Liston”, a sidewalk paved in pink marble from Valpolicella, which follows the curvilinear shape of the square, overlooked by aristocratic palaces housing bars, pizzerias and restaurants. This is the perfect place to enjoy a coffee or an aperitivo, perhaps just before attending a show inside the amphitheatre. But over the whole square dominates the Arena, which in the summer of 1913 hosted the largest open-air opera season in the world. In addition to the Liston with its aristocratic buildings and the Arena, the Fontana delle Alpi, the Visconti walls, the statue of Victor Emmanuel II and the Pentagon Tower are also worth noting.
The square is at its best during the Christmas period, when it hosts the Christmas Market and the monumental and impressive steel comet that acts as a liaison between the Arena and the square. Finally, every year during the Santa Lucia celebrations between 11 and 13 December, the square hosts stalls laden with sweets, toys and handicrafts.

FROM ORIGINS TO THE PRESENT DAY
In Roman times, this area was outside the city walls and it was only in the Middle Ages that the city walls were extended to include the area around the Arena.
The “Bra” only began to be defined as a square at the beginning of the 17th century, when the construction of the Palazzo della Gran Guardia and the seat of the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona began on the southern side. In the second half of the eighteenth century work was carried out to complete the paving of the “Liston”, which was to become the preferred place for afternoon strolls in place of the Piazza dei Signori. It was only in the nineteenth century that oil lamps were installed and in 1845 gas lighting was introduced, so that the Liston also became a place for evening strolls.