Opposite the austere Palazzo della Ragione, or New Town Hall (Broletto Nuovo), on the south side of medieval Mercanti Square (a corner of old Milan miracously preserved intact!), is the charming Loggia degli Osii commisioned by Matteo Visconti da Scoto of San Gimignano in 1316. Although it was unfortunately disfigured in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, we can still get an idea of what it must have been like by the 1904 restoration which attempt to bring it back to its original form. Built of black and white marble, it is composed of two superimposed loggias with divided windows along the top floor. Upon the upper loggia are coats of arms of the varius districts and of the Visconti family and in the middle is the balcony from which edicts were read to the public.