Palazzo di Giustizia

The Palazzo di Giustizia stands on the main street of Soave, a few steps from Piazza Antenna, and it is what Venetian rule added to a town that had been purely military.

Built in the fifteenth century, it is a small Venetian Gothic palace -- pointed windows, a balcony, a frescoed facade of which fragments survive -- of the kind that fills the Grand Canal, transplanted to a walled village on the Verona plain.

It housed the town's court and administration under the Republic, which is what its name records.

This is a working building on a working street in a small town, not a monument with a visitor route. Look from the pavement, and do not go into courtyards or entrances that are plainly private.

Soave's centre is compact and easily damaged by traffic; parking outside the walls and walking is the sensible approach.

The most useful thing a visitor does here is spend a little in the town -- a coffee under the arcades, lunch, or a bottle from a local producer.

The palace is seen from the street. It remains in civic use and the interior is not generally open to visitors.

It stands on Via Roma, the main street inside the walls, a two-minute walk from Piazza Antenna and from either gate. There is nothing to book and nothing to pay.

Realistically this is a five-minute stop as part of a walk through the town centre, taken together with the square, the Palazzo Cavalli and the gates -- not a destination in itself.

The street is flat and level, and this part of Soave is easily accessible.

Morning light falls on the facade and shows the fresco traces best.

Any season works, since the visit is a few minutes on a street; the arcades nearby give shelter in rain and shade in summer.

Market day and the late-afternoon passeggiata are when the street around it is at its liveliest.

During the medieval festival in late May the whole street is dressed and closed to traffic.