| What makes it historical? |
The earliest record of a central campo, or field, in this former Etruscan, then Roman, then Lombard town, dates back to 1169 AD, and refers to it as a marketplace! That market grew and expanded, but it wasn’t until the 1300s, under the Government of the Nine that it became an official square. Competing with the Guelphs in rival Florence, these Ghibelline leaders built the Palazzo Publico and Torre del Mangia here and paved the piazza, completing the brickwork in 1349! Surrounding the plaza were the houses of the major noble families of Siena, like the Sansedoni, Piccolomini, and Saracini!
Today, the Piazza del Campo, and indeed most of Siena’s architecture, is one of the best preserved Gothic Medieval cities in the world! That’s because, shortly after the Piazza was completed, the Black Death struck, taking out most of the population and destroying Siena’s economy! It never recovered after many centuries, which spared it from both modernization and bombardment during World War II! |
