Markets were held in Piazza delle Erbe and in the abjacent platea grani, the present-day Piazza Aycardi.
The southern side of this square ended in the medieval Loggia di Ramondo, beneath the facade of the Brunengo House. The loggia was decorated with a large heraldic image - now difficult to read. The weights and measures of the marquessate are housed inside the loggia, which is supported by strong pillars made of Finale stone.
The eastern side of the irregularly-shaped Piazza Aycardi was almost entirely taken up by the ex-Scuole Pie, founded through a legacy left by Andrea Aycardi to the Scolopi Fathers in 1757.
When the Scuole Pie closed, the building became the premises of the debts and mortgage office. Later on, during the last century, it was turned into a hotel.
In 1806, a public petition chose to transform the nearby school oratory into the Aycardi Theatre. The theatre is a gem hidden behind a rather conventional façade, and voices the Borgo’s lively social and cultural life.
The oldest 19th-century theatre remaining in Liguria has a small horse-shoe shaped parterre, surrounded by two orders of boxes divided by brick pillars and an upper gallery with wood columns.
The refurbishment of this building should soon be completed.