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Blog IX

How is Siena, Siena and not anywhere else?

Looking down onto Piazza del Campo from the tower of the Palazzo Pubblico, the difference becomes readily apparent. As the largest open space in Siena, the Piazza del Campo was intended as a place of gathering during the daily routines of its citizens, not the church. The space was created at a location where the paths from threes main hills converged at the city center. The fan shaped piazza terminates at a point, where the Palazzo Pubblico would later be built. The function of the open space, sharply contrasts with that of Piazza S. Pietro here in Rome.  As Rome’s largest piazza, the design of the open space, and adjacent buildings intentionally frames the viewer’s gaze towards the church of St. Peter, a place long recognized as the most important building in Rome, and some would argue, the world. Civic life in Siena took precedence over the church, as noted by the location of the “palace of the people” at the center of the largest, and most heavily used open space of the city.

Siena, and its most important space, cannot be found anywhere else because the topography, cultural history, and civic identity allowed its most cherished space to become both an emblem of its city and a source of civic pride.

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