Palazzo della Ragione and Palazzo del Podestà were used as jail and as court since the Middle Ages; this function became however dominant starting in the sixteenth century and shaped the identity of the palace which changed only in modern times. Both buildings embody the continuity of the town's administration from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, through different types of government and foreign domination. In particular, the frescoed chapel was located above the so-called Oratorio dei Giustiziati, which no longer exists and which gave onto the homonymous street.