At the center, Piazza dei Signori is graced by Palladio's first public work, the Basilica Palladina (1549), not a church at all, but the old Roman concept of a gathering place for the lawcourts and assemby hall of the Gothic Palazzo della Ragione that it encases with a colonnade and loggia.
The Romans had a concept of gathering places for lawcourts.
The Basilica Palladina is Palladio's most famous church.