This was the place for state ceremonies, pomp and circumstance, in the time of Venetian rule. The square is enclosed by four symbolic buildings as witnesses to the social and political landscape of bygone days and the significance of the location: the Catholic Cathedral (the Duomo); the domicile of the Catholic Archbishop at the upper part of the square, to remind one and all of religious rule; the domicile of the Bailo the Venetian governor of the Ionian islands, across from the cathedral (this building does not exist now); and the Loggia (San Giacomo),
seat of the local nobility who were members of the Town Council, at the lower end of the square.