Siena – the best public space in the world

19.04.2010

I revisited Siena recently and went to the Campo, a space made famous by the Palio. I have not witnessed the Palio although I have seen one in Fermo in The Marches, which was pretty dramatic – horses at full tilt charging up a straw covered cobbled street, skidding as they tried to navigate a 180 degree hairpin bend.

However the Campo has another side to it. In my opinion, it is the best public space in the world. I was sitting there wondering what makes it so special – apart from there being no traffic and the space having developed in an organic way – and came to a very simple conclusion. Its uniqueness is that the space, although roughly a semi circle in plan and level around its circumference, falls approximately a storey in height down to the entrance to the Town Hall.

This dishing of the floor plane allows people to sit, lie, and embrace as though the ground were an extended mattress rather than a bed of granite sets.

The Campo creates intimacy, but at the same time can absorb a huge number of tourists –a necessity when it is the most perfect space in the world. G