The heart of historic Vicenza is Piazza dei Signori, where Palladio lightens the mood of government buildings with his trademark play of light and shadow. Dazzling white Piovene stone (a local limestone) arches frame shady double arcades at the Basilica Palladiana while, across the piazza, white stone and stucco grace the exposed red-brick colonnade of the 1571-designed Loggia del Capitaniato.