The main elevation makes this basilica, built from 1549 to 1617 a masterpiece by Palladio, with galleries superimposing Doric and Ionic orders, admirable for their strength, proportions and purity. The great upturned keel roof is more recent (the original was destroyed by bombing). Like its Roman ancestors, this basilica had nothing to do with religion: it was a meeting place for all the notables in the town.