Finally we exit the historic Piazza dei Signori through the archway between il Palazzo della Ragione on the left and the Domus Nova (which I've only just realised that I didn't get a clear shot of; like I said earlier, the merits of planning your shoot) on the right. Just beyond is the Piazza delle Erbe. Erbe literally means both herbs and grass, and there is of course little of either there now. It's the well-covered site of the old Roman forum or marketplace.

Indeed it wasn't until I was processing these photos that I realised just how historic the piazza had been. Looking back on it now I can but think.... "Wow". I just wish I had been able to think it then.

I'm not sure what is suspended below the archway; it appears to be a bone of some kind but it's too large to be steer horns as I had first thought. It may well be a rib, but it would need to be from a pretty massive animal, possibly a whale.