Piazza del Campo

Piazza del Campo is a great tilted shell of red brick at the heart of Siena. Its fan of paving, divided by pale stone strips into nine segments, slopes down towards the Palazzo Pubblico, the Gothic town hall, whose slender brick tower, the Torre del Mangia, rises above the whole city. Around the curve, the palaces of Siena's old ruling families form a continuous wall of warm brick with matching rooflines, so that the square feels like an open-air theatre with the town hall as its stage. It is counted among the finest medieval squares in Europe and lies within the Historic Centre of Siena, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.

The square grew from an open space on a slope where the three hill communities that merged to form Siena met. It served as market, meeting place and arena long before it was formalised. Medieval Siena was a rich, self-governing city-state and Florence's great rival, and its government made the Campo a statement of civic pride. The paving was completed in 1349, and its nine sections are traditionally linked to the Nine, the council that governed the city from 1292 to 1355, at the height of its prosperity. City statutes required new buildings along public streets to keep in line with their neighbours so that none stood out — a deliberate contrast to the private fortified towers that still dominate nearby San Gimignano. The commune even controlled brick production to keep standards uniform. The Torre del Mangia was built between 1338 and 1348 and, when completed, was one of the tallest secular towers in medieval Italy; its name recalls its first bell-ringer, nicknamed Mangiaguadagni, "profit-eater". At its foot, the Cappella di Piazza was added in 1352 in thanks for the city's survival of the Black Death.

At the upper edge of the square stands the Fonte Gaia, the "joyful fountain", the end point of a network of underground conduits that brought water into the city. Jacopo della Quercia carved its marble reliefs of the Madonna and the Virtues in the early 15th century; the originals are now preserved in the Santa Maria della Scala complex, and copies by Tito Sarrocchi have stood in the square since 1866. Twice a year, on 2 July and 16 August, the Campo is covered with a layer of earth for the Palio, the bareback horse race between Siena's contrade, or city wards: ten horses run three laps of the square, and the race is usually over in about 90 seconds.

Getting there

Piazza del Campo is in the centre of Siena's historic town. Florence Airport, Peretola (FLR) is about 55 km away.