Museo Civico di Siena

Siena's Civic Museum occupies the state rooms of the Palazzo Pubblico, where medieval frescoes depict the political life of the republic.

Why it matters

The museum preserves civic art in the rooms for which it was created. In the Sala dei Nove, Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted the Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government in 1338–1339 for the council that ruled Siena from 1287 to 1355. The cycle connects political thought with the setting of medieval government.

What to notice

Lorenzetti's frescoes show Justice, Concord and the Comune alongside the effects of good and bad government in the city and countryside. In the Sala del Mappamondo, Simone Martini's Maestà (1315–1321) depicts the Virgin beneath a canopy decorated with varied materials. Other palace rooms and collections extend the civic history into the Risorgimento and later Sienese painting.

Context and history

The frescoes remain in the palace where the Sienese councils met, making the building itself part of the collection. Simone Martini signed and dated the Maestà in verse; the dating was refined through an inscription beneath the dado. Lorenzetti's cycle survived the fall of the government for which it was made. Later civic restorations and museum displays added further layers to the palace's history.