Discover Piazza della Cisterna

Piazza della Cisterna is, with Piazza del Duomo, one of the two most important squares in San Gimignano, and it sits inside the UNESCO-inscribed Historic Centre.

It stood at the crossing of the two main routes of the high-medieval town: the via Francigena on the north–south axis, and the Pisa–Siena road east to west. The division of labour between the two squares was clear — Piazza del Duomo held the religious and political buildings, while Piazza della Cisterna was the place of the market and the stage for festivals and tournaments.

Its present arrangement dates from the 13th century, laid out under the dispositions of the Ghibelline Comune. The square takes its name from the water cistern of 1287 underneath it, crowned by a monumental travertine well-head on an octagonal pedestal, enlarged in 1346 under the podestà Guccio Malavolti and set slightly off-centre.

Around it stands what the source calls an extraordinary curtain of noble houses and medieval towers — and since the town preserved 14 of its original 72 tower houses, a good share of the survivors are on this one square.

The square is a piece of urban architecture rather than a building, and it was designed — the 13th-century arrangement was laid out deliberately, under the Ghibelline Comune, as the commercial counterpart to Piazza del Duomo.

The shape

Triangular, with a gentle natural slope, which is what you get when a square is formed at the junction of two roads crossing at an angle rather than cut out of a block. It opens into Piazza del Duomo through a gap rather than a street, so the civic-religious square and the market square function as two rooms of one plan.

The surface

Brick laid in herringbone, parts of it surviving from the 13th century. Herringbone is a paving choice for a surface that takes traffic in every direction — carts, animals, crowds — rather than along a single axis, which is exactly what a market square does.

The towers

The curtain of noble houses and medieval towers around the sides is the architecture here. The towers are flat-faced, square-sectioned and essentially undecorated — massive parallelepipeds, as the source has it for the Becci and Cugnanesi pair. They are a competitive form rather than an aesthetic one: in a town that had 72 of them and kept 14, building high was how a family stated its standing, and the twin Ardinghelli towers on the western side are the purest expression of it — not one tower but two matching ones.

The gate inside the square

The arco dei Becci belongs to the first, high-medieval circuit of walls, and its presence in the middle of the built-up town is the most informative thing on the square about how San Gimignano grew: the wall it belonged to was swallowed, the gate was kept, and the towers of the Becci and Cugnanesi were raised either side of it.

The well-head

The one piece of freestanding designed object in the space: travertine on an octagonal pedestal, over the cistern of 1287 and enlarged in 1346. Its slightly off-centre position is worth noticing — it sits where the water was, not where a composition would have put it.

The square was assembled rather than built, and in an order that can still be read off it.

First the gate

The arco dei Becci was a gate in the first, high-medieval circuit of San Gimignano's walls. It is now in the middle of the town, which tells you the sequence: the gate came first, the town grew past it, and the square formed inside the line the wall used to hold.

Then the crossroads

The space took its importance from being where the via Francigena met the Pisa–Siena road. That is not a built feature but it governs everything else: a market square exists where the traffic already is.

Then the 13th-century layout

The present arrangement was set out in the 13th century under the Ghibelline Comune, which is also when the herringbone brick paving was laid — parts of it still in place. This is the moment the square was given its job: market, festivals and tournaments, with the religious and political functions kept next door.

Then the water, 1287 and 1346

The cistern was constructed in 1287 under the square, and the travertine well-head over it was enlarged in 1346 under the podestà Guccio Malavolti. A hilltop town's public square needed a public water supply, and the enlargement after sixty years suggests demand had outgrown the original.

Then the towers, and their reduction

The noble houses and towers around the three sides went up through the 13th and 14th centuries — the Becci and Cugnanesi towers framing the old gate, the twin Ardinghelli towers, the torre del Diavolo, palazzo dei Cortesi, palazzo Razzi, palazzo Tortoli, and Casa Salvestrini, which later served as a hospital.

One piece of that fabric was subtracted rather than added: the tower that belonged to the capitano del popolo, beside palazzo Tortoli, survives truncated. Towers in these towns were cut down as well as run up, and a stump beside a palace is a record of a political reversal.

Is there anything to pay, and is it ever closed?

No and no. Piazza della Cisterna is a public square with no gate and no ticket, open at any hour. The ticketed sites are a minute away: the civic museums and Torre Grossa at €10,00 full and the Complesso della Collegiata separately at €7,00 full.

Why is it called the square of the cistern?

Because there is one underneath it, constructed in 1287. The monumental travertine well-head on its octagonal pedestal was enlarged in 1346 under the podestà Guccio Malavolti, and it stands slightly off-centre — over the water rather than at the middle of the space.

Which towers am I looking at?

Going round from the southern end: the torre dei Becci and torre dei Cugnanesi flanking the arco dei Becci; a truncated tower of the capitano del popolo beside palazzo Tortoli; the torre del Diavolo on the northern side next to palazzo dei Cortesi; and on the western side the twin torri degli Ardinghelli and the torre di palazzo Pellari. San Gimignano kept 14 towers of an original 72, so a good share of the survivors are on this one square.

What is the arch at the south end?

The arco dei Becci, a city gate belonging to the first, high-medieval circuit of walls. It is now in the middle of the town, which tells you the square was laid out around a gate that already existed.

How old is the square itself?

Its present arrangement dates from the 13th century, laid out under the dispositions of the Ghibelline Comune, and parts of the herringbone brick paving survive from that period.

Why are there two big squares side by side?

Because they had different jobs. Piazza del Duomo held the religious and political buildings — the Collegiata and the two Podestà palaces — while Piazza della Cisterna was the market and the stage for festivals and tournaments. They connect through an open passage rather than a street.

Why is this square where it is?

It sat at the crossing of the two main routes of the medieval town: the via Francigena north to south, and the Pisa–Siena road east to west. San Gimignano is on the medieval Via Francigena, and this is where its traffic met.