Municipal Palace and Sala Celesti

In Piazza Martiri della Libertà, the main square of the town, stand the Monument to the Fallen of the First World War and the Column with the Lion of Saint Mark, symbol of the Serenissima Republic of Venice which governed Lonato for 350 almost uninterrupted years, starting from the middle of the 15th century. The headquarters of the Paola di Rosa school housed the Venetian Superintendent, while the Municipal Palace dates back to the 17th century in its current form.
The Council Room preserves an ancient eighteenth-century map of the territory of Lonato and the ceiling features nineteenth-century decorations dedicated to the Lonatese agronomist Camillo Tarello (1517-1573).
This large room is called the “Sala del Celesti” because it preserves an exceptional work of art, created in 1693 precisely for this room, by the Venetian painter Andrea Celesti (1637-1712). The large canvas (measuring 262×735 cm) was commissioned by the city council in 1692 to commemorate the end of the plague of 1630. Jesus Christ is represented in the center with the Virgin on the left and Saint John the Baptist, patron saint of Lonato, on the right. On the left the allegory of Lonato with the Doge of Venice and the three theological Virtues next to it, while on the right the painter has represented the consequences of the plague, with a lazaretto and the winged demon who is flying away.

The weekly market is held in the square on Thursday and Saturday mornings, as well as the antiques market, every third Sunday of the month (with the exception of January, July and August).