Before the days of the Communes, when the Brolio or Broletta, and the Palazzo Pubblico were as yet unknown, the palace of the ruling prince was the hall of justice, the nearest Basilica being the public meeting-place. King Luitprand's palace was styled in his time _Curtis ducati_. In Charlemagne's reign it was _Curti domum Imperatoris_; in other parchments _Curtis Mediolanensis_. Across the front ran an open gallery, called _Laubia_,[49] formed, as were the galleries of the Comacine churches, of a row of arches on colonnettes. Here the _placiti_ were held, and sentences pronounced, as in the regal and imperial public buildings, the populace being assembled in the street below. The _ringhiera_ of the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence served the same purpose in Communal times. The Loggia, which is such a feature in all old Italian houses, is the natural descendant of the _Laubia_. In its private aspect, as part of a citizen's house, the Loggia was the place where the master of the house received his friends. An ancient MS. by Landolfo tells us that the space occupied by Luitprand's palace was not very wide. It extended from the monastery of St. Ambrose to the church of St. Protasius ad Monacos (now no more), and the road leading to it was known as _Strada de Civite Duce_. That King Desiderius also employed the Masonic guild in civil as well as ecclesiastical architecture seems implied by the tradition of his palace at S. Gemignano. Certain it is that a solid mediæval building with decidedly Lombard windows and Lombard arches under the machicolations, exists at S. Gemignano, but whether it was really built by and for Desiderius, I leave wiser antiquaries to judge. The style is that of the times. As a rule, Lombard houses had small rooms. This seems to have applied even to royal and public buildings, for, as mentioned above, all public meetings had to be held in a church, or in its ante-portal. When Desiderius convoked a Diet at Pavia, each prince or bishop was assigned a house which had a church or oratory near, in which he could meet his committee. The different methods and processes of house-building are very plainly enumerated in the laws of Luitprand, of which we have given the headings on a previous page. It would seem that since the reign of Agilulf, the Masters of the Guild had become overbearing, and by Luitprand's time required to have special legislation to limit their prices. Luitprand's code of laws regulated the strength of the external walls of a building, in regard to the different height, construction, and material.