Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Entry to the
palazzo
's ground-floor central courtyard is free. From it soars the graceful
3.15pm mid-Oct-Feb)
, 102m high and with 500-odd steps. The views from the top are mag-
nificent, but if you want to see them you should expect to wait in high season, as only 30
people are allowed up at any time.
Museo Civico
MUSEUM
(
www.comune.siena.it
; Palazzo Comunale, Il Campo; adult/EU reduced €8/4.50; 10am-6.15pm mid-
Mar-Oct, to 5.15pm Nov-mid-Mar)
The city's most famous museum occupies rooms richly
frescoed by artists of the Sienese school. These are unusual in that they were commis-
sioned by the governing body of the city, rather than by the Church, and many depict sec-
ular subjects instead of the favoured religious themes of the time.
Purchase your ticket at the office to the right of the entrance then head upstairs past the
gift shop to the
Sala del Risorgimento
, with its impressive late-19th-century frescoes serial-
ising key events in the Risorgimento (unification of Italy). Next is the
Sala di Balia
(Rooms
of Authority). The 15 scenes depicted in frescoes around the walls recount episodes in the
life of Pope Alexander III (the Sienese Rolando Bandinelli), including his clashes with the
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Straight ahead is the
Sala del Concistoro
(Hall
of the Council of Clergymen), dominated by the allegorical ceiling frescoes of the Man-
nerist Domenico Beccafumi; and through a vestibule to the left are the Anticappella
(Chapel entrance hall) and Cappella (Chapel). The
Anticappella
features frescoes painted in
1415 by Taddeo di Bartolo. These include figures representing the virtues needed for the
proper exercise of power (Justice, Magnanimity, Strength, Prudence, Religion), as well as
depictions of some of the leading Republican lights of ancient Rome. The
Cappella
con-
tains a fine Holy Family and St Leonard by Il Sodoma. Next to the Anticappella is the
Vestibolo
(Vestibule), whose star attraction is a bronze wolf, the symbol of the city.
The best is saved for last, though. From the vestibule, you emerge into the
Sala del Map-
pamondo
(Hall of the World Map), home to the museum's highlight: Simone Martini's
powerful and striking
Maestà
(Virgin Mary in Majesty). Completed in 1315, it features the
Madonna beneath a canopy surrounded by saints and angels and is Martini's first known
work. On the other side of the room is another work attributed to Martini, his oft-repro-
duced fresco (1328-30) of Guidoriccio da Fogliano, a captain of the Sienese army.
The next room, the
Sala dei Nove
(or Hall of the Nine), is where the Council of Nine was
based. It is decorated with Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco cycle known as the
Allegories of
