Castagnole delle Lanze - Marconi Square

The most ancient square of Castagnole was built on the remains of the barbican, a fortification outside the walls of the dwelling place aimed at protecting one of the access gates located at the beginning of Ruscone Street. Created probably in the second half of the sixteenth century, it hosted the weekly market until 1952.

The Thursday Market was, for centuries, the main commercial event of the town. Born, or at least made official by a decree of Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy in 1573, it reached its peak in the decades between the nineteenth and twentieth century. Since the late afternoon of each Wednesday, the village used to get animated by the arrival of the most distant sellers bringing their merchandise, carts and horses. The five hotels in the town were able to host over one hundred and twenty animals in their stables, so it can be assumed that over three hundred peddlers used to be present. Other merchants arrived by train on the very Thursday morning and reached the town by mean of a wagon service. In the period of maximum prosperity up to two hundred banks composed the market. The squares and streets of Castagnole were filled by people from neighbouring countries, especially in autumn and winter, and by many children, who on Thursdays had a day off.

In addition to street vendors there were also storytellers and singers of popular motifs, who sold for little money the texts of the motifs they sang; there were then Jewish intermediaries who offered loans and land transactions, and some pickpockets, often being accompanied by two policemen to the punishment cell.

In addition to Thursday mornings, the square was crowded again during the Pallapugno games, especially on Sundays. The large number of visitors, however, often forced the shops to close and prevented the access to the parish church for religious services. To solve any inconvenience, the city council in 1855 took the decision to move the playground into Piazza Nuova (New Square).

In 2015 the so-called portico of Tristan and Isolde was created: an arc from which an audible comment is emitted, Flow My Tears by John Dowland, dedicated to the concept of dramatic love. This audible comment is activated every hour, from 10 am to 10 pm, after the bells' ticking from the Parish Church of Saint Peter in Chains. The blue drops recall the tears and the romantic aspect of the story become myth of Tristan and Isolde, the protagonists who were in love with love itself.