Going through the arcades of via Ferdinando Zanetti, in the center of Galeata, you reach the Palazzo Pretorio or Palazzo del Podestà. This was the seat of the municipality and residence of the foreign magistrates who were engaged in the control of the city.
The building dates back to the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the Florentine Republic gave the order to use the building as the seat of the Podesteria of Galeata. It seems that in 1426 there resided the podestà Zanobi del Pino da Firenze, a character inept at Niccolò Machiavelli. After the earthquake of 1584 the Palace was completely rebuilt and other important changes were made in 1890, when it became the town hall.
