Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
new construction. This has led to the historic centre's listing on Unesco's World Heritage
list as the living embodiment of a medieval city.
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
ORTO DE' PECCI
Head behind the Palazzo Comunale and down the hill past Piazza del Mercato and the city's historic,
now decommissioned communal laundry to discover this
urban oasis
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
(
www.ortodepecci.it
; 24hr) . Kids love visiting the geese, goats, ducks and donkeys that
live here, and locals can often be found hiding from the tourist masses in its green spaces (perfect for
picnics or an afternoon snooze). There's a cooperative organic farm that grows fruit and vegetables
and supplies the on-site
restaurant
( 12.30-2.30pm & 7.30-10pm Tue-Sat, 12.30-2.30pm Sun
Mar-Oct, 12.30-2.30pm & 7.30-10pm Fri & Sat, 12.30-2.30pm Sun Nov-Feb) with produce, a medi-
eval garden and an experimental vineyard which Siena University's agriculture department has
planted with clones of medieval vines. On summer evenings, concerts are sometimes held here, too.
Sights
Piazza del Campo
This sloping piazza, popularly known as Il Campo, has been Siena's civic and social
centre since being staked out by the Consiglio dei Nove in the mid-12th century. It was
built on the site of a former Roman marketplace, and its pie-piece paving design is di-
vided into nine sectors to represent the number of members of the council.
Fountain; Piazza del Campo)
in the upper part of the square. These days, the fountain's panels
are reproductions; the severely weathered originals, sculpted by Jacopo della Quercia in
the early 15th century, are on display in the Complesso Museale Santa Maria della Scala.
centrepiece and now home to the Museo Civico. One of the most graceful Gothic build-
ings in Italy, it has an ingeniously designed concave facade that mirrors the opposing con-
vex curve formed by the piazza.
PIAZZA
