Situated between the Palazzo Comunale and the Palazzo del Podestà, the square was laid out at the time of the Fontana del Nettuno, commissioned by Cardinal Legate Charles Borromeo in 1563, whose allegorical device was intended to assert the power of papal authority in the city. Hence the choice of Neptune, a bronze giant with a spectacular contrapposto (wiggle) created by the Flemish Mannerist sculptor Jean Bologne (1529-1608).