Piazza Dante Alighieri, the heart of Grosseto

Piazza Dante Alighieri opens on the right side of the Duomo and in its centre is the statue in honour of Leopold II, known as Il Canapone because of the colour of his hair. The marble group was erected in the square on March 7, 1846 to be inaugurated on May 1 of the same year, represents the Canapone in the act of lifting with his left arm a woman exhausted by hardship with a dying child (allegory of the Maremma affected by malaria), with his right arm holds a smiling child (hope of the future), while with his foot crushes a snake (malaria) that is also bitten by the griffin (symbol of Grosseto). Still in Piazza Dante Alighieri, on the eastern side, we find Palazzo Aldobrandeschi also known as Palazzo della Provincia. Inaugurated in 1903, it recalls the medieval Sienese style. In the past, the Palazzo del Podestà stood in its place, but it was demolished in 1899. A curiosity: the column located between the main facade of the cathedral and the square is a Roman column placed in the square already in the Middle Ages and most likely comes from the ancient city of Roselle.