Just beyond the Town Hall, past Vicolo Nardi on the right and Vicolo del Comune on the left, you find yourself in a charming piazza with a monument dedicated to Giuseppe Garibaldi. The monument was built in 1884 and is one of the first erected in Italy in honour of the 'Hero of Two Worlds', who died in 1882.

On either side of this piazza there are two passageways which lead down towards the Via della Fontana. Facing onto the piazza itself is one of the most beautiful of all the buildings in the historic town centre, the Palazzo Balduini, built by the Barghigiano, Balduino Balduini in the second half of the 16th Century. Balduini was the chief physician for Cardinal Del Monte who later became Pope Julius III, and who in 1554, nominated Balduini as Bishop of Aversa. It should be noted that this Balduini is not the same as the one mentioned elsewhere in this guide.

Unfortunately this beautiful palazzo was heavily bombed during the last war and only its outer walls remained standing, but the imprint of the Medici can still be seen in the stone Medici crest which is attached to the facade of the building. On the corner of the building there is a crest, also in stone, of Bishop Balduino.

Palazzo Balduini.

Next to this palazzo is the property of the Sisters of the Order of St. Joseph (Giuseppine), who run a nursery school there, and beyond this are the ruins of buildings destroyed during the last war when Barga was for many months on the front of the Gothic Line. Next to these buildings is the Via della Rota, which first deviates via a flight of steps up to the piazza and church of the Santissima Crocifisso, and then connects to Via della Speranza. The Via della Rota is so-named because there used to be a convent on this street, with a structure at the entrance which turned on a wheel where newborn infants were left, because the families was so poor they could not look after them, or because they were not acknowledged by the family.

If you now turn back and continue along Via di Mezzo, you find that the road curves sharply to the left and then again to the right with a short steep drop. This tortuous winding around is a characteristic feature of nearly all the streets in the old part of the town. This leads you to the Piazza del Sargentone (big sergeant). It was here that a sergeant of the Grand Duchy of Florence lived who was given the nickname "sargentone" because he was unusually large. Two passageways lead off from this piazza, Vicolo del Forno and Vicolo del Pozzo, which ends up at the Via della Fontana, and which will be described in more detail when we come to Via di Borgo.

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