MUSEO CIVICO

Located on the upper floors of the Palazzo Pubblico, the Civic Museum tells the story of medieval Siena through an important collection of sculptures, tapestries and paintings from the 14th to 18th centuries.

The art gallery contains a sketch of a fresco of the Virgin and Child with Saints (1537-1539), attributed to Sodoma. The Renaissance room (sala del Risorgimento), with its superb ceiling decorated with gilding, features large frescoes and 19th century sculptures by mainly Sienese artists, which celebrate the various events of this period and the wars of independence. The Consistory Hall (Sala del Concistoro), where the leaders of the Sienese Republic gathered at the time of the Sienese Republic, is accessed through a beautiful marble portal by Bernardo Rossellino (1448). This room is decorated with allegorical frescoes painted by Domenico Beccafumi between 1529 and 1535, one of the masterpieces of Italian mannerism. At the top of the vault, you will observe the three virtues fundamental to good government: love of the country, justice and harmony.
The palace's chapel (cappella), in Gothic style, is covered with frescoes by Taddeo di Bartolo. It also houses an altar, designed by Marrina, and the table of the Holy Family with Saint Leonard de Sodoma (1530), which comes from the duomo.
The Hall of the World Map (sala del Mappamondo) is the largest, but also the most famous room in the public palace of Siena. It houses the Maestà (1315), a splendid and wonderfully preserved work by Simone Martini, as well as Guidoriccio de Fogliano at the Montemassi Headquarters, another major example of Tuscan Gothic, whose attribution to Simone Martini was recently disputed. The other frescos covering the walls date from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
Finally, in the Hall of the Nine (sala dei Nove), also known as the Peace Room, there are the magnificent and very famous frescoes Effects of Good and Bad Government (1337-1339), created by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, which must be carefully contemplated in order to lose oneself in the rich and erudite iconography, combining history, religion, tradition and mythology, and to perceive all their complexity. These wall paintings, which decorate the three walls of the hall, figuratively evoke the political intentions of the city's regents, the Nine.

On the practical side, it is better to plan two good visiting hours to take your time, enjoy the rooms and avoid the hordes of tourists on a guided tour.