Description of the attraction
Piazza del Campo is the main square of the Tuscan city of Siena and one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Europe. It is here that the world famous Palio di Siena races are held twice a year. In addition, the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo is flanked on all sides by luxurious aristocratic palaces, among which the Palazzo Pubblico with the Torre del Mangia tower stands out. And in the northwestern part there is the Fonte Gaia fountain.
In the 13th century, this open space was a market - it was located on a sloping field near the point where the borders of the three communes from which Siena later grew - Castellare, San Martino and Camollia - converged. Perhaps, even earlier, there was an Etruscan settlement, but it was unremarkable. In 1349, the square was paved with red brick with ten rows of white limestone, which divided it into nine sections, diverging from a central drain in front of the Palazzo Pubblico. The number of sections is considered to be a symbol of the reign of the Nine (Noveeschi) who laid the square and ruled Siena between 1292 and 1355. Since then and to this day, the square has remained the center of the city's political life. 11 narrow streets start from here, running away in different directions.
The luxurious palaces that flank the Piazza del Campo were once inhabited by the noble families of Siena - Sansedoni, Piccolomini, Saracini and others. These late Gothic buildings owe their uniformity in part to the fact that they were erected from the same building materials - brick and tuff. At the base of Palazzo Pubblico, you can see the small chapel of the Virgin Mary, built by the Sienese in gratitude for ending the terrible plague epidemic in the mid-14th century.
The decoration of the square is the Fonte Gaia - the Fountain of Joy, built in 1419 as the end point of the city's water supply. By order of the Council of Nine, many kilometers of tunnels were built to bring water from the aqueducts to the fountain. The current Fonte Gaia has the shape of a rectangular bowl, decorated on the sides with numerous bas-reliefs depicting the Madonna and various Christian virtues. Jacopo della Quercia worked on the project of the marble fountain. An interesting fact: among the figures with which the sculptor decorated the fountain in 1419 were two nude female figures, which were the first since antiquity to be exhibited in a public place.
