The old town hall is one of the great medieval buildings of
Italy, with the elegant tower of La Mangia rising high above
its curved facade. It was erected in the early 14th century,
when Siena was at the apogee of her power, and before the devastation
of the Black Death. The best frescoes are by the leading Sienese
artists of the time, Simone Martini and Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
At one end of the central Sala del Mappamondo Simone painted
the Maesta, a magnificent celebration of the Virgin as Queen
of Heaven, surrounded by angels and saints. Facing it is the
perfect image of chivalry, Simone's splendid equestrian portrait
of Guidoriccio da Fogliano, riding towards the fortress of Montemassi,
(there is a heretical argument by an American scholar that this
fresco is a 17th century pastiche, but no-one in Siena believes
him). Beneath the general are interesting figures attributed
to Duccio. Next door Lorenzetti painted allegorical scenes of
Good and Bad Government. They give a wonderfully vivid impression
of life in the city and the surrounding countryside in 1340.
Address
Palazzo Pubblico, Piazza del Campo
Getting
there
Dominates the southside of the Campo, entered
through the courtyard on the right hand side of the Capella
di Piazza
