The twin market squares Piazza delle Erbe (Herbs Square) and Piazza della Frutta (Fruit Square), one on each side of the Palazzo della Ragione, are the daytime heart of central Padua. Stalls of fruit, vegetables, flowers, salami, and cheese fill the squares every morning from Monday to Saturday — one of the best surviving urban food markets in northern Italy.
The arcades that ring both squares are full of cafés, wine bars, and traditional shops. In the early evening, when the market stalls have packed up, the squares turn into the centre of the city's aperitivo culture: students and office workers crowd the bars for spritz, the orange Veneto cocktail invented in Padua's drinking culture and now served everywhere from Stockholm to Shanghai.