Piazza Arnolfo di Cambio

Piazza Arnolfo di Cambio is the principal square of Colle di Val d'Elsa's lower town. Its nineteenth-century origins as a market space contrast with a contemporary redesign coordinated by Ateliers Jean Nouvel.

Why it matters

The square records the development of the Piano as a modern urban centre alongside the older hilltop quarters. The later commission brought architecture and artists' interventions together within an established civic space.

What to notice

The redesign combines paving, lighting and furnishings with contributions by Alessandra Tesi, Bertrand Lavier, Daniel Buren and Lewis Baltz. Tesi's Persiana di Cristallo connects the project with Colle's glassmaking tradition. The war memorial adds an earlier commemorative element within the renewed setting.

Context and history

The square was laid out in the second half of the nineteenth century on Pian dei Canali, with removal of sections of walls and the church of San Jacopo. The railway and market functions helped shape its role in the lower town. A memorial to the First World War followed in the 1920s. Nouvel's project of 2007 gave the space a further artistic and architectural layer.