“Siena is the embodiment of a medieval city,” writes Unesco, which inscribed it into its World Heritage list in 1995. “The whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape.”

The buildings were designed to fit into the overall planned urban fabric and also to form a whole with the surrounding cultural landscape. For these reasons, Siena had a major influence on art, architecture and urban planning during the Middle Ages, both in Italy and in Europe.