Reggio Emilia's cathedral square has the layered feeling of a place that has been the civic and religious heart of a city for over a thousand years. The Romanesque cathedral faces a detached Baptistery in pink Verona marble, and the entire ensemble sits against a backdrop of medieval and Renaissance palaces. The Palazzo del Monte closes the south side of the square with particularly fine medieval stonework.
The cathedral itself — the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta — was begun in the late Roman period and reworked through the Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque eras. The facade is an intriguing mix of architectural periods, but the interior is worth lingering in for its carved choir stalls and the crypt beneath the high altar. The detached Baptistery, rarely seen from the inside, has some fine Lombard stonework on its exterior.