It's the Little Things That Matter: Siena

We continued down the hill, with me marveling at all the little details all along the way. (really, I don't know how AM and T put up with me sometimes!)

The next momentous site that unfolded from the continuum of cozy streets was the Campo!

The Campo is a very unique spot, and I remember my RPI friends talking about how when they were there on the Hilltown trip, that they had to spend some time studying it, and try to explain why it works so well. The piazza itself is a funny shape- the Palazzo Pubblicco (town hall) is at the one edge, and the piazza fans around a focal point just in front of it, but not symmetrically. All the rest of the buildings form a unified front made up of so many disparate elements, but serve to reinforce the funny shape of the piazza and give it a sense of enclosure. The piazza slopes inward towards the focal point, and is paved in nine wedges of herringbone brick, divided by stripes of stone pavers.

The nine segments represent the Nine who ruled the city in the 14th century, when the Campo was laid out. The asymmetry seems to respond to the locations of the three streets that spill out onto the campo- the radius is greater at these three points than it is elsewhere.

When we were there, most of the people were sitting at the cafe tables along the outer edge, or walking along this perimeter. Very few were walking directly across the piazza. This was certainly partially due to the fact that it was a hot, sunny day, but somehow the Campo seems to lend itself to this behaviour anyway. It seems to draw your eyes in, but push you out to the edge. I'll have to come back again someday and see if this is in fact the case! :)

The funny thing about how it seems to draw your eyes in is that there is no real focal point. The point about which the segments radiate is nothing more than a drain! So instead, your eyes are drawn into the space itself. They scan across the perimeter buildings and tend to rest on the Palazzo Pubblicco. This is pretty ingenious!

When we were there there were tons of birds swarming about the tower of the Palazzo, which of course our eyes were drawn to! :)

At the top of the piazza was a fountain...

...poor gargoyle dog! :)

We stopped for a cappuccino at one of the cafes along the perimeter and had the chance to just absorb the Campo for a bit.

This is where they run the Palio, which is the horse race you see pictures of. All these horses run laps around the Campo! It is run every year between 10 of the 17 neighborhoods (they rotate through). Winning this race is a source of pride for the neighborhood, and they all celebrate. AM explained that the Palio is really for the residents of Siena, and not intended as a tourist attraction. I was marvelling at this point at the size of the piazza- for such an event, with SOOO many people, it's tiny!

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Next we went over to the Palazzo Pubblicco. We were too late to see the Good Government/Bad Government mural, but we did manage to go up the tower! TOTALLY worth it, in my opinion!

For the record, it's 389 steps to the tippy top. (but who's counting?) :)

The views we got were phenomenal!

Here's a good perspective of the Duomo, where we just were. From here you can get a good sense of how big it already is, and how much bigger it was supposed to have become!