In the principal square stands the town hall, built in1448-1457in the VenetianGothic style, and skilfully restored after a fire in 1876; opposite is a clock tower resembling that of the Piazza di San Marco at Venice.
Before 1405 the mortar used in Venice was made of lime from Istria, which possessed no hydraulic qualities and was consequently very perishable, a fact which to a large extent accounts for the fall of the Campanile of San Marco.
The Scuola di San Marco is now a part of the town hospital, and besides its facade, already described, it is remarkable for the handsome carved ceiling in the main hall (1463).
These were at one time more numerous than at the present day; earthquakes and subsidence of foundations have brought many of them down, the latest to fall being the great tower of San Marco itself, which collapsed on July 14th, 1902.
The library of San Marco contains upwards of 35,000 printed volumes and about 10,000 manuscripts.
