Description of the attraction
Loggia Comunale is an old building located in Piazza del Popolo in Levanto, a resort town on the Ligurian coast. The first mention of this building dates back to the 13th century, and in the 16th century it was rebuilt. In 2007, the Loggia was named by UNESCO “a monument-testimony of culture and peace”.
Historical sources say that the Loggia Comunale was built in the 13th century, although the current building is the result of reconstructions from the late Middle Ages (late 16th century). The Loggia was once used for commercial purposes, as Levanto was a large port city, and then the building housed the city archive, which was there until the end of the 18th century.
In relation to Piazza del Popolo, the historic center of the city, the Loggia Comunale is raised by about a meter. It is a one-storey rectangular building. The main façade, facing the square, is decorated with arches supported by four columns and two pilasters with serpentine Romanesque capitals. The side façades overlooking Via Paraxo and San Giacomo are notable for brick semicircular arches. Three small windows are also visible on one of the facades, and the image of a rosette window on the second. Inside the Loggia Comunale, there is a 15th-century fresco depicting the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary by an unknown Ligurian-Lombard artist, four white marble and slate gravestones and the ancient coats of arms of Levanto and the Republic of Genoa.
