Piazza dei Signori is the quieter of Padua's three central squares, dominated at its western end by the Torre dell'Orologio, the city's tall mediaeval clock tower. Built in 1428 to house the celebrated astronomical clock by Jacopo Dondi — installed in 1344 and one of the oldest working clocks in Europe — its dial shows the time, the date, the position of the sun and moon, and the signs of the zodiac, but with the famous omission of Libra.
The square's most surprising side is the Loggia della Gran Guardia, a Renaissance arcade designed by Falconetto. The square fills with markets in the morning and bar terraces in the evening; it is one of the easier places in central Padua to sit down with a spritz.